Popular Articles on Business 2 Community

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• How to Win Customers and Influence People: Finding the Right Platforms to Reach Your B2B Audience
• 5 Hottest Search Engine Optimization Trends To Watch Out This 2014 (Infographic)
• Social Media: The Customer Service Channel By the People, For the People
• 5 SEO Metrics You’ll Regret Not Measuring
• Hootsuite vs Tweetdeck
• Social Media Management – What Not To Say On Social Media
• New Study: Forget the ‘Likes’. 2014 Social Media Users Want Privacy.
• 2014 Inbound Marketing Trends: Content Marketing Q&A with Brianne Rush
• Save Time Blogging: 15 Proven Productivity Hacks

How to Win Customers and Influence People: Finding the Right Platforms to Reach Your B2B Audience Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:52 AM PST How B2B marketers can find the best social media platform to reach their target market Despite some reluctance to embrace social media as a B2B marketing channel, 91% of B2B marketers are using social media to spread their message. Plus, 58% of marketers who have been using social media for more than 3 years report it has helped them improve sales. But with so many platforms available, it can be tempting to sign up to more than you can handle. The key is focusing your efforts on the networks where your target audience is already waiting. Which audience, where? Age: The 18-29 audience is commonly the biggest on every social media platform, but bear in mind these statistics: 46% of Facebook users are aged 45+ Half of all Google+ users are under 24 Just 19% of LinkedIn users are under 34 Gender: Platform use is fairly evenly balanced between men and women, with the notable exception being Pinterest, which is used by a considerably higher number of women than men. Facebook: Women 58%, men 42% Twitter: Women 63%, men 37% LinkedIn: Women 46%, men 54% Google+: Women 36%, men 64% YouTube: Women 46%, men 54% Pinterest: Women 72%, men 28% However, B2B social media marketing has more facets to it than B2C marketing. B2B marketers must identify relevant industry dialogue regardless of basic audience demographics. Conversions come from conversation; engagement and dialogue is the axis of a solid social media presence. But finding the right conversations amid the deafening noise of social media can be tricky. For optimum effective reach, then, B2B marketers should: Target platforms with large user bases. Use keywords and relevant messaging to target the right potential customers. Top of the B2B class In a recent survey by Gleanster, top B2B performers indicated LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and SlideShare as the best platforms for user targeting: LinkedIn: 93% Twitter: 84% YouTube: 71% SlideShare: 56% Facebook: 35% Vimeo: 26% Google+: 24% Are they right for my needs? However, this is not to say that some of the lower scoring platforms may not be more suited to your needs. Consider these points: Facebook proves a successful B2B marketing platform in tech industries and those lending themselves to a sense of community (consultancies, services to businesses, caterers, etc). Google+ now boasts more than 350 million users and is quickly becoming a hot new B2B destination. Business pages, video conferencing and improved search rankings are just some of the B2B marketing benefits offered by the site. Pinterest doesn’t even appear on the list of targetable platforms, but it shouldn't be ignored, especially if yours is a visually-driven brand. Click-through rates can be twice as high as Twitter or Facebook, and it provides a strong platform from which to humanise your company. Finding the right platform Use social media to seek out your competitors and see where they're focusing their efforts (and how successfully!) Get involved in online conversations to see what buyers are saying about social. Are they referencing forums, blogs, Facebook pages or Twitter accounts? Follow the trail of breadcrumbs and set up camp in places your customers are already visiting. Ask for feedback from your business customers; a short survey alongside your latest email correspondence, for example. A simple 'Which social platforms does your business use?' will suffice. Engaging your audience Engaging a B2B audience is often more challenging than engaging a B2C demographic, but there are several crossover lessons to be had: Listen to what your connections saying, then find content that resonates deeply with them. Make yourself memorable and they'll remember you in their next buying decision Embrace video content – social media users are watching more videos, and responding to them more positively, than ever before Be mobile optimised – the advent of the 'bring your own device' trend means more and more business decision makers are accessing social through tablets and smartphones (78% of companies say there are more than twice as many personal devices connecting to corporate networks now than compared to two years ago) B2B businesses can apply the same ROI metrics to their social campaigns as B2C companies, so use analytics information to determine what's working and what's not – and then change it if needs be!

5 Hottest Search Engine Optimization Trends To Watch Out This 2014 (Infographic) Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:31 PM PST A previous report from Forrester Research established Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as the most important source of targeted traffic business owners can have for their websites, with organic web search or natural search sitting at the top of traffic sources. Digital marketers expect this trend to persist and would grow at a steady rate despite the proliferation and growing popularity of other traffic sources like social networks and other online or offline channels. Using SEO tactics as part of your overall digital marketing campaign is still a very wise investment that business owners should undertake if they want to remain competitive in this ever-changing digital marketplace. The following infographic describes some of the most anticipated SEO trends that marketers are watching out for this New Year. To get ahead of their competitors, business owners should have a clear understanding of these future trends that will affect and eventually change the SEO landscape this 2014 and beyond. The infographic (click to zoom): Embedded from Digital Marketing Philippines

Social Media: The Customer Service Channel By the People, For the People Posted: 22 Jan 2014 11:14 AM PST You say you want a revolution, well you know, we all want to change the world... It's a certainty that no one ever planned for social media to become a major customer service channel. Unlike live chat and help desk ticketing, I don't think any brands ever thought "we're going to support our customers here" when Facebook and Twitter first started becoming part of the collective, connected lifestyle. And that's really what makes social customer service so special when you think about it – it was a channel developed not by brands, but by the people. Frustrated with waiting in line, on hold or not receiving answers and information, it started as a rebellion of sorts, led by customers tired of systems and processes that didn't work and who wanted their voices to be heard. And today, it has changed the way we do business, giving more power to the people and making service from big brands more personal and more transparent. Revolution or Evolution? While the call for better customer service on social media may have been part revolution, it was also equal parts evolution, notes CRM analyst Brian Vellmure in the recent white paper, Customer Service: 6 Take-Note Trends for 2014. "Customers aren't spoiled brats," says Vellmure. "If we seem more demanding, it's because our expectations are consistently being shifted by whoever's doing the next best thing," he says. "There's a greater democratization of access to people, products and information, and we can get whatever we need in closer and closer to real-time." Expectations such as this are shaped by standouts such as Google, which has done a remarkable job organizing global information on products, services, and community feedback and making it accessible in seconds. Says Vellmure, "This access is now the norm, and service organizations that aren't positioned to respond to that level of expectation are getting left behind." From Exceptional to Expected In fact, social customer service has become such a common expectation, that analysts are now calling for the removal of "social" from "Social CRM." "I think we're at that stage where we can finally drop the 'social' from CRM because the social channel is fully integrated in service processes, strategies, and culture. And if it's not, it should be," says Brent Leary, partner at CRM Essentials. Yet according to the latest Social Customer Engagement Index, less than half of brands polled have at least one social channel fully integrated with traditional customer service processes. But for those who do, they're leading the way in social customer service success with a 360-degree view of the customer, increased customer satisfaction and brand advocacy, and innovative customer-generated ideas for product and service improvements. A customer service channel of the people, by the people and for the people? It's no wonder why the popularity and Voice of the Customer on social media continues to grow. New Parature Whitepaper Details 2014 Customer Service Trends Parature's new whitepaper, Customer Service: 6 Take-Note Trends for 2014, explores what's next for social media as a customer service channel, as well as five other key customer service and customer experience trends we all should be keeping an eye on. The white paper features a wealth of new statistics and key insights from business leaders and well-known CRM analysts including Brian Vellmure and Brent Leary. Click Here to Download It Now

5 SEO Metrics You’ll Regret Not Measuring Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:42 AM PST Which SEO Metrics Are The Most Important to Track? If you know much about inbound marketing, you know that metrics are the key factor that differentiates this arm of marketing from all the others. Tracking metrics allows inbound marketers to make wise, informed decisions about how they'll promote a product, rather than simply taking a swing at what feels right. When you track metrics, you can determine exactly why some projects succeed and others fail. In the world of SEO, tracking your metrics is also a huge factor in determining why some strategies work and others don't. But since search engines are constantly updating their algorithms, it can be hard to SEOs to keep up with which metrics to track. For example, while keyword ranking and domain authority used to be extremely important metrics to track, their significance has decreased quite a bit with the launch of Google's Hummingbird algorithm. So which SEO metrics are the most important at this moment? If you're going to keep your eye on any, these are the ones to watch: 1. Bounce Rate If your website pages have high bounce rate, then your search engine optimization is not doing its job. Ideally, ranking high for a specific keyword or topic should mean that your page is exactly what searchers were looking for. If you have a page or two with a high ranking but high bounce rate, you might be optimizing for the wrong keywords and subjects. Look closely at the content of your pages and consider rewording your title tags and headers for more relevant long-tail keywords. This will help you optimize better for actual people, which is really the most important goal in SEO. 2. Organic Traffic (and Where Its Being Driven) One obvious goal of SEO is to drive organic traffic to your site. While it's important to keep track of your general organic traffic numbers when embarking on a new SEO path, what's more important is to track which pages are getting that organic traffic. When you know where your organic traffic is going, you can analyze why it might be going there. You might be saying to yourself what seems like the obvious point here: organic traffic rates would increase because you've correctly optimized a page for the right keywords. Right? Not necessarily. Because of Google's Hummingbird algorithm, keyword content and context means a lot more than it once did. Because of this, when you track your organic traffic metrics, you need to pay a lot of attention to the content of the pages that receives the most traffic. While you might be tempted to correlate high organic traffic with good keyword choices, because of a smarter search engine algorithm, you should really correlate it with popular page content. Use your organic search metrics to determine which content does the best for your website, and then determine the best keywords to optimize for that subject. 3. New Visitor Growth Optimizing your site properly should lead to more visitors, but when tracking for this metric, you want to make certain that you're only tracking new visitors. When you simply track visitors as a whole, you end up attributing visits by current leads and customers to new SEO tactics. Why is that such a huge concern? Because you can't properly tell how well your SEO is working if your metrics aren't exact. If you track leads and customers along with new site visitors, your numbers might tell you that your SEO is boosting site visits far more than it actually is. That's important because it might make you believe that your ineffective SEO is working when really you need a big change. 4. Conversion Rate So you've been optimizing your site on a regular basis; your rankings and new visitors have increased, but the conversion rate of your landing pages is stagnant. What does that mean? It might mean you are ranking for the wrong keywords and content. Optimizing properly allows you to reach the people who are searching for what you have to offer, which means that if your SEO is working, your landing page conversion rates should increase. Similarly to your bounce rate metrics, if your conversion rate metrics are low, try ranking your pages for alternate keywords or subjects. You might just be hitting the wrong audience. 5. Profit Ultimately, if you're going to track only one SEO metric, profit should be it. At the end of the day, if your SEO isn't raising your company's profit, then it's just not worth it! Now, tracking the profit of your SEO can be easier said than done. Sure, company profit may rise, fall, or remain stagnant several months into your SEO plan, but how can you tell that your optimization strategy is the root cause? In order to track your SEO's effect on your profit, you've got to be very scientific in the way that your implement your optimization plan. Now, if you own a company and you've simply hired on an SEO firm to do some work to your website, then your profit metric tracking is pretty much done. Ask yourself, "did my profits raise after hiring that SEO firm?" If the answer is yes, then they've done their job and you can move onto bigger things. If the answer is no, then you might need to look into hiring a better firm. However, if you've got an SEO team working on your site, a web designer fixing things up, eBooks deploying every week, and new Google ads going up during the next month, then you've got some serious strategizing to do. Rather than updating and publicizing every element of your site all at once, take things slowly. When you implement one measure of promotion or optimization at a time, it gives you the chance to trace profit changes back to one clear source. Think back to your high school science classes – when you're doing an experiment, you only want to have one independent variable at a time, otherwise your results will be way too difficult to track. image credit: bearvader/freedigitalphotos.net

Hootsuite vs Tweetdeck Posted: 21 Jan 2014 06:50 PM PST You're keen on growing your brand over social media and you know you need to be able to schedule posts and perform some advanced searches to really start boosting your online presence. Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are the two most well-known social media management dashboards. There's no need to own both, so which one is best for your needs? Hootsuite vs Tweetdeck An age old question, but fear not; be assured that there is no wrong decision. Both tools are widely used and are fairly user-friendly. You will drastically improve your social media presence as soon as you begin using a scheduling tool so the most important thing is to just start using one! We're not going to push you either way. On a side note, if you are trying to sell yourself to clients as a social media manager and you don't have either Hootsuite or Tweetdeck – get one of them now! If you're applying for jobs with 'social media' and, especially, 'social media expert' on your resume, you'll need to get to grips with one or the other as soon as possible. You can't effectively manage commercial Facebook and, particularly, Twitter accounts by only posting live and without search-result feeds! We don't want to get deep into exactly which one is better and why, they are similar products but in general, we find that users are most comfortable with Hootsuite. This is simply down to user-friendliness and its appearance. The tab system Hootsuite uses makes social media management logical whether you're looking after 1, 5 or 20 accounts or profiles. But you're a social media agency, which do you use? Okay, you got us now. We must admit that we do use Hootsuite. The tab and stream layout coupled with the speed of the system make it a relatively obvious choice for the serious marketer. It also has some extra features over Tweetdeck as well as being able to add more platforms like G+ pages and LinkedIn, which our clients need. Even though Hootsuite is an incredibly advanced tool, it remains very good value as an absolutely fundamental tool to your online presence.

Social Media Management – What Not To Say On Social Media Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:19 PM PST Social media management – You may look like the other end of this horse. Social Media Management Social Media Management is serious business. It can make or break almost any business. It can seriously wound even the strongest of companies and resurrect the most feeble. But Social Media Management and Social Media Marketing is not, can not, be just throwing up some content now and again. It is NOT your personal media outlet. You must have a BUSINESS presence and a separate PERSONAL presence (or no personal presence at all). Additionally, what you post is important but I will leave that for another discussion. What I do want to talk about is what NOT to post. Social Media Marketing Tips My wife and I regularly partake in festivities at a bar in our community. We love this place and go there way too much. We love the atmosphere, the people, the food, and of course the drink. The love for this bar is specifically because of the environment. The environment is relaxed, calm, fun, etc. And everyone contributes to the environment. There are some rules that you are supposed to follow when you go to the bar (not everyone does all the time). These rules make for a happy experience and were put in place long, long ago. These rules also apply to Social Media Marketing and Social Media Management. Here they are: No Politics – This is a far too passionate thus divisive topic to be discussed as your relaxing over your favorite draft. It is also way too passionate a topic to discuss over social media. Not all of your customers believe the same as you (they actually might but I think in the majority of instances that is not the case). And if you are passionate enough to spew it forth into the world then I am pretty sure that they are passionate enough to spew it back and then some. You don't want that interaction. No Religion – Again. This is far too passionate. Any religious topic is libel to alienate some section of your customer base. Not what you want. It is far too easy to offend people when discussing religion. Why go there? Stay away from health – This one is a little different. You can talk about your health or someone else's but don't dwell. If I come into the bar and say "hey frank, how are you?" I really don't care (I do care, I just don't want to hear about it for an hour). Some other things to consider… don't be a narcissist. I, as a future customer, don't care about you… I care about me… and my problem… and if you try a little to offer a solution to my problem… I MIGHT listen. If you talk about you, I am gone. I'm not talking about "hey, we are running a special!", I'm talking about "hey, here is a picture of us at the new house we just bought because all you suckers actually pay us". It is insulting. Keep it business. That is the primary reason for separation of business and personal social media. This is a key element to your Social Media Management.

New Study: Forget the ‘Likes’. 2014 Social Media Users Want Privacy. Posted: 21 Jan 2014 12:45 PM PST Sharing on social media isn't as cool as it used to be. At least, that's the word coming down from McCann Worldgroup, one of the largest media/advertising agency networks in the world. The new study, titled "Truth About Privacy," polled 1100 Americans and organized five separate focus groups, including consumers between ages 16 and 60. "Truth About Privacy" Study Highlights The fear that the government may use personal data against the individual accounts for the biggest increase in privacy fear since the study was first conducted in 2011. Consumers believe Silicon Valley companies (e.g. Google, Facebook) are the least trustworthy and "the greatest threat" to online privacy. What group is most trusted when it comes to personal information? "Banks," say consumers. Image Source: McCann Truth Central 3 Ways Not To Be on Social Media Judging from the graphic above, if you really want to be cool – you might want to check out of Facebook altogether. For those of us in the digital marketing world, passing up on Facebook just isn't an option. However, understanding the "Three B's" of social media might help you understand the current issues that surround online/social media privacy and faux pas… #1 Don't Be BORING. Only one out of three consumers thinks that posting your routine activities on Facebook is cool. On the other hand, two out of three believe that using Facebook for silly or funny articles is cool. And for brands? Asking consumers to share a personal story "for fun" is a definite no-no. Well under half of consumers think this is "cool" behavior. #2 Don't BOAST. Save the boasting for when you actually have something worth getting out there. As it is: About one out of three consumers thinks "checking in" on Foursquare is cool. Almost two out of three people think having a personal style blog for your daily outfits is uncool. #3 Don't BEG. And begging? Best to avoid this practice altogether. McCann Worldgroup reports: Nearly three out of four people think adding people you don't know as connections on LinkedIn is uncool. Nearly three out of four people think adding "friends" you don't know as on Facebook is uncool. Defriending people you don't actually know on Facebook is the thing to do – so says nearly two out of three participants. Social Media Privacy is Key in 2014 In case you're not seeing the trend here, I'll wrap it up here: Flying under the radar, incognito, is cool. Having a loud, always-on digital personality – not so cool. For brands, 2014 will present many new challenges. The key is toeing the line between respecting users' desire for social media privacy, while also being engaging enough to pull consumers out of their shell. Need help getting started? It all lies in understanding The Recommendation Age.

2014 Inbound Marketing Trends: Content Marketing Q&A with Brianne Rush Posted: 21 Jan 2014 12:00 PM PST As part of our blog series on Inbound Marketing Trends, we've taken it upon ourselves to predict what the future holds for inbound marketing and its many facets in 2014. Last week we heard from Kuno Creative leaders Chris Knipper and John McTigue on trends in inbound marketing. We continue the series today by exploring my favorite discipline: content. Kuno Creative Content Director Brianne Rush has some ideas about what we should expect from content marketers in 2014. We asked her to share her predictions on content marketing in the New Year, as well as tips to make sure your content strategy is up to par with inbound marketing trends. How has content marketing evolved from 2013 to 2014? We saw a huge push to be more visual with content in 2013. Memes are a great example: they rose to the top in early 2013 as a popular tool for "snackable" content, but fell off the map just as fast due to poor quality. This proved visual content is valuable, but it still has to be quality stuff. That brings me to the most important lesson that hit home for anyone trying to be successful in content marketing—quality over quantity. This is all anyone talked about last year because it presented a different mindset for many content marketers, so it has to be mentioned here again. What are your predictions for content marketing in 2014? Deep Content: Content is going to have to become much deeper. It's going to be more in-depth, better researched and more personalized for the audience. We know that's what Google is demanding, so smart companies are really going to be focusing on quality over quantity in the form of well-researched, in-depth content. Brands like Colgate and GE are already leading the way in terms of high-quality, in-depth articles accompanied by stunning imagery and videos. Content Advertising: This is going to be another new focus for businesses in 2014. The old adage of "if you build it, they will come" isn't true anymore. Companies are going to have to start putting money behind content to help audiences find it through paid avenues like Facebook ads and sponsored posts. Content Delivery: Marketers are going to have to start thinking outside the box with their content, as well as new ways to deliver it. For example, infographics were the new and exciting way to deliver content the past few years. In 2014, content marketers are going to have to stretch the limits and come up with the next "infographic." We will start to see more content apps and branded content tools as creative ways to get more eyeballs on content. Content Personalization: Personalization in emails, on websites and in your engagement strategy will be the norm this year. Everything from confirmation pages to thank you emails and even homepage content are all going to be personalized. If you visit a website, for instance, and fill out a form, the next time you visit, the website will present content as if it already knows you. The same can go for industry verticals—personalization will guide users on the homepage and throughout the site with content that pertains to the industry they care about most. Content in the C Suite: Last, but not least, more brands and companies will start hiring chief content officers in 2014. This person will be responsible for guiding the brand's story across the company and aligning sales with marketing with the right messaging through every stage of customer engagement. What resources will a content marketer need to be successful in inbound marketing in 2014? Content Advertising: Helpful tools for getting the most out of your content with content advertising include OneSpot and Gravity. Storytelling Tools: Storify and Prezi are two great sites to check out—Storify lets you pull different elements from around the web and integrate them into one online story, and Prezi gives you the ability to create visually captivating presentations. Brand Journalists: Looking for great writers and content creators? Contently gives you access to writers, editors and content gurus from all over. Organization: Trello is the ultimate organization tool that's easy to use and share for team collaboration. Imagination: As cheesy as it may sound, imagination is what it's going to take to be more creative content marketers in 2014! What is the one thing content marketers need to know to be successful in 2014? It's time to market smarter—no longer should you just rely on one form of marketing. You don't just want to do inbound, and you don't just want to do outbound. You don't just want to do one thing and put all your eggs in that basket. You want to do what "works" and figure that out by trying new things and measuring the results. Take a “back to basics” approach with your content marketing efforts, as well. Ask yourself, "Are we speaking to the reader? Are we solving his problems? Are we being creative?" In short, be open to trying different things. Figure out what works best and delivers results, and use that to develop a data-driven marketing strategy. This month, we'll be discussing inbound marketing trends for 2014 in areas such as sales, design and web development with experts from the Kuno Creative team. Subscribe to the Brand & Capture blog now so you don't miss these exclusive Q&A discussions with some of the brightest minds in inbound marketing. What changes do you anticipate for content marketing in 2014? Share your predictions below! photo credit: Search Engine People Blog via photopin cc

Save Time Blogging: 15 Proven Productivity Hacks Posted: 21 Jan 2014 06:54 AM PST How long does it really take to create content? Reports vary, but many experts claim they work on an article for anywhere between 2 hours and several days. Are people on the quicker side creating low-quality stuff? Not necessarily – they've probably just mastered the art of productivity. I've been creating web content professionally since late 2010. On a typical day, I write anywhere between 2,000-3,500 words of really great stuff. I've learned more than a few tricks to speed myself up during my years at the keyboard. I've decided to provide you all with unprecedented, exclusive access into how I get it all done and save time blogging on a daily basis: 1. Outline First Forget everything your high school English teacher taught you about writing a good outline – including developing a framework for each paragraph. I save time blogging by developing the headers for list posts, or the paragraph topics for essay-based articles in advance. 2. Don't Write in Order List posts are among the most popular and shareable kinds of content online. They're particularly easy to consume, which is Buzzfeed consistently goes viral. When you're developing list content for your own blog, don't feel you need to flesh out each item from top-to-bottom. When taking this approach, it's crucial to read the post once you've finished for flow – but the "attack and complete" approach is one powerful way to save time blogging. 3. Research As-You-Go Some writers prefer to gather all their sources in advance. I'm sure it's a highly valid tactic, especially if you're working on an academic project. However, no such rules exist for blogging, and you could find that your citation needs change as you get further into the project. Find sources on an as-needed basis, to ensure you save time blogging don't waste time getting ready to start. 4. Avoid Self-Editing Perhaps the worst thing you can do for your productivity is stopping to self-edit. It doesn't matter if your sentences are too long or you've picked the wrong word – these minor problems are what the editing process is for. You'll reach your end goal much quicker if you write with as few stops as possible. I've always been an advocate of editing my work once it's complete, but my friends with a tendency to self-edit as they write report that nipping this habit in the bug is a highly effective way to save time blogging. 5. Use HARO Need an expert source for your upcoming article? Use Help a Reporter Out (HARO) to pitch your query to 200,000 experts. Submitting your question takes around 2 minutes, and the responses will begin pouring in within hours. You'll likely find it's the fastest way to source original content for your articles, and far more effective than putting questions on your Twitter or Facebook. Crowdsourcing isn't always effective, particularly if you're still building your following on social media, but HARO cuts right to the chase so you can save time blogging. 6. Switch Concepts Quickly I'll be the first to admit that sometimes posts don't exactly write themselves. If you're pressed to develop something for publication, fighting through a topic that you just can't hack might not be the best choice. I'm a huge fan of switching topics to save time blogging if you find yourself 15 minutes in, and with little progress to show for it. 7. Use Write or Die Efficient blogging is a function of experience – but you can totally cheat and improve your efficiency without blogging for years. The Write or Die app isn't for the faint of heart, but it's highly effective. It's cheap, and you'll gain access to exercises that disable your backspace button, or require you to hit a certain word count, fast! 8. Don't Leave the Zone Every writer has a magical state of total productivity – for convenience's sake, we'll call it the zone. This is when words come easily, and your thoughts flow quickly onto the screen. When you reach this point, don't leave. Don't answer your cell phone, don't check your Facebook, and don't stop. 9. Avoid Burn-Out When you write thousands of words a day for years, you run the risk of burnout. Actually, you could find yourself up against creative exhaustion much faster if you're not careful. As blogger Mattis Weiler points out, the most challenging thing is to "take action consistently." Reward yourself for a job well done by taking frequent breaks, and full weekends off from the job whenever possible. 10. Maintain an Editorial Calendar There are two types of bloggers in this world – those who maintain an editorial calendar, and those who don't. Trust me when I tell you that the ones who save time blogging not only have an editorial calendar, they keep it up to date. When you're reading other blogs or catching up on your favorite tech sources, quickly transfer any bursts of inspiration into your content plan for the month. 11. Batch Tasks There's a lot of ancillary work that goes on behind-the-scenes for content marketers. Things like responding to comments, checking your metrics, planning, and outreach. I typically blaze through these duties as soon as I get to my desk in the morning. This approach might not work for everyone, especially morning people, so the important thing is to batch tasks. Respond to comments at least once daily, but don't interrupt your writing time for administrative duties so you can save time blogging. 12. Get a Second Monitor All you really need to create content is a computer and an internet connection. However, you'll find that your productivity jumps drastically if you invest in a second monitor. Believe me, whatever price you pay is worth every penny as you're more effectively able to research without navigating between tabs. 13. Know Your Vice Every blogger has at least one internet vice, which leads to a rabbit hole of procrastination when they should be creating content. For many people, it's probably Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. Personally, I'm an obsessive email checker, so I've invested in Inbox Pause. This Gmail app whisks all of my new messages into a special folder, so I won't become distracted while writing. The best marketers save time blogging by knowing their weaknesses, and using technology to combat it. 14. Set Deadlines Image credit Reflecting Runes Content creation is a creative process, but I believe you've got to put guidelines in place. When I'm writing, I set deadlines, and I typically hit them. Once or twice, I've even been known to race other writer friends to reach a certain word cont. 15. Have a Rock-Solid Editing Process Are you lucky enough to have a staff editor? Well, you can skip this section. If you're like the majority of small business marketers without much support, it's crucial to strreamline and define your editing process. My typical approach looks something like the following: Step away from the content! Take at least an hour off after writing before you edit. Do a quick read-through for any glaring issues with structure, tone, or citations. Upload to WordPress (or Blogger or HubSpot), format for SEO. Ensure the post contains appropriate internal links for SEO. Read over it once more, and schedule for publication. Eager to learn more about how you can save time blogging? Check out our article, 13 Time-Saving Blogging Tips from the World's Busiest Marketers!

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