Create Authority Content for Your Business

Creating authority content raises your “expertise profile” and helps grow your business. Authority content shows rather than tells. It demonstrates expertise through valuable content without your having to shout: “We’re Number One!”

Demonstrate world-class expertise with authority content

The essentials of creating authority content for your business are to:

1. Pick a topic that’s at the core of your business — one that you can legitimately claim expertise in. This should be an area you feel comfortable expounding on, and one your customers would benefit from knowing more about. A real estate firm might have an angle on rental investing. A law firm might know a legal strategy that gives clients an edge.
2. Break the topic out into five preliminary subtopics — begin addressing each topic in substantial, in-depth articles of perhaps 750-1,000 words — each one a mini-chapter of a future e-book. Incorporate attractive elements in your content, such as surveys, statistics, lists, and maybe a few “downloadable assets” — case studies, white papers, etc. Nail the SEO.
3. Post articles at your blog on a regular schedule — maybe one or two per week, mirror posting to your social media platforms — LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ — getting notifications out to the others. Trigger tweets to your business account, and to all the individual ones you can legitimately co-opt for this purpose. 

Now you're ready to gather what you've done into an authority asset.

Create a PDF file of your first five article/chapters

With the first five articles create a PDF file including all the content you’ve generated on the topic to this point. Offer this out as a way of increasing traffic to your site, gaining subscribers, or simply gathering email addresses.

Create your next five article/chapters

Move through in like manner with the remaining five mini-chapters of your book. Create the individual blog articles, post them to your blog, and promote them everywhere.

Create a cornerstone content page

Once you’ve got your ten-part series completed, published, and promoted, use your articles to create what’s known as a cornerstone content page. This is a dedicated page that:

Lists links to the article/chapters of the book you’ve generated — like a linkable table of contents.
Add introductory material (“intro”) at the beginning, and summary material (“outro”) at the end.
Include your “call to action”.
You want them to call you for more information? That’s you call to action. Want them to join your mailing list? There you go.

Packaging your content in this authoritative way will motivate people to find it, share it, and link back to it.

Generate another PDF plus e-book

Gather up your next five articles into a second PDF and use it the way you did the first: to generate interest, traffic, and subscribers. Now take all ten of your chapter-articles and create an e-book to add to your authority — and reach broader markets.

Blast off with authority content

Authority content attracts high-quality links to your site — links from “authoritative sites” that draw major traffic. Your company website starts appearing higher in search engine results increasing traffic to your site. Authority plus attraction adds heavy-duty value, attracting further links and increasing shares of your content with others.

Watch your business blast off with authority content.

Ask Michael J. Farrand about creating authority content for your business.

SOURCE: "Authority Content: Build an Audience that Builds Your Business", copyblogger.

Create the Killer Business Plan

“Capital isn't scarce; vision is.” Sam Walton

Your business plan must relay your vision — in as exciting a way as possible — while delivering the financial and research data that satisfy. With so many business plans being created every day, floating around among prospective investors everywhere, yours must be the one that sticks out and says: “Fund me!”

Creating a killer business plan requires a few simple ingredients, to which you add your energy, spirit, and vision.

Standard ingredients of a business plan

By now we all know the basic elements of any decent business plan. As a quick review, here’s the pieces the Small Business Administration recommends:

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Market Analysis
• Organization & Management
• Service or Product Line
• Marketing & Sales
• Funding Request
• Financial Projections

Those reading your business plan expect these elements every time, and have seen just about every rendition of them. What’s different about your plan is the life you bring to these ingredients.

Go to the Dream Room first

The step before creating your business plan is to do some intentional dreaming — imagining your new business in every way but logistically. Now’s the time to dream up a powerful and compelling vision for what you want your business to be about. What do you aspire to become? Once you’ve dreamed big you can write a tactical plan for getting there.

Focus on a sparkling mission

To those who’ve read a thousand mission statements from entrepreneurs like yourself, a well-written one is like fine wine. Your job is to pierce through their hardened wall of perception enough to convince them you got the vision and mission to make real change happen. Here’s what you want to include:

• A market-defining story
• How your business idea will make your customer’s life better
• What your business does for its employees (and contractors and suppliers)
• What your business does for its owners (financially)

This is your opportunity to define your organizational goals, ethics, and culture. Consider going beyond the three basic dimensions — customers, employees, owners — to what your company does for the community (and world).

Make blue sky real with clear goals and solid timelines

Brimming with big ideas from your team visit to the Dream Room, now’s the time to put some practical teeth into your blue sky. Include measurable outcomes with realistic timelines. Each strategic objective met will inspire and motivate you (and your investors) through tough times ahead.

Write a plan people will actually read

Create a plan that is clear, concise, complete, and — most of all — readable. Go lightly on the big words and fancy equations. Keep in-the-know jargon, hip buzzwords, and jarring terminology to a minimum. Instead of impressing your team with inside knowledge, keep in mind the underlying interests of the people whose assistance you’re seeking. What motivates them to get involved in your venture?

THEN: discuss, digest, cut, polish, review, revise (repeat).

Ask Michael J. Farrand about creating killer business plans.


SOURCES: "How to Write a Business Plan" Small Business Administration; "5 Keys to Creating a Killer Business Plan" by Daniel Kehrer, BizBest; "How to Write a Mission Statement in 5 Easy Steps" by Tim Berry, Bplans; "The Business Plan that Always Works" by Michael E. Gerber", Inc.

Business News Daily

Writing to Explain (With a Pinch of Persuading)

“The Web forced every company to become a publisher.” Gordon Graham

Companies must create original content nowadays almost to exist at all. Their fresh content goes up on the internet, gets indexed, and starts showing up in search results. That’s when the traffic starts showing up at their site.

More visitors = more sales. More content = more sales.

Blog posts, case studies, e-books, newsletters, press releases, slide decks, speeches, and white papers. Companies need fresh content so they will rate high in Google search results and prospects can find them.

B2B prospects want different content

Convincing individuals to buy online — going Business-to-Consumer (or B2C) — is hard enough. It’s even harder Business-to-Business (or B2B). Your business customers require mucho info to make an educated purchase. They want to see:

• Case studies from satisfied customers
• Slide decks that outline latest features
• Press releases on your company
• Video that show how to benefit from your product(s)
• White papers that present cost-benefit analyses

B2B buyers might require weeks or months to decide on a purchase. They might download, go over, and debate this type of content from competing providers.

What type of information would make B2B customers skip lunch?

What about:

• Another sales pitch? (Most B2B customers avoid these like the plague.)
• A great story? (Their boss isn’t paying them to be entertained at work.)
• Something persuasive that challenges their opinions? (Not what they go to work for.)

B2B customers want something else

“Something that helps them understand a business issue, solve a business problem, make a business decision, or simply do their jobs better. We all want useful, practical tips and advice that help us on the job. Don't you?” Gordon Graham

Business buyers need writing that helps them understand “something they need to know.” Writing that nudges them — without overt selling — to reach a sensible conclusion or make a wise decision. Writing to explain, in other words, with a pinch of writing to persuade.

Good B2B content is based on facts and logic and the occasional call to emotion, from an organization that wants to be seen them in the best possible light.

Ask me about creating this kind of content for your B2B marketing.

SOURCE: “How ‘Writing to Explain’ is the Foundation of Content Marketing” by Gordon Graham

Why Green Tea Should Replace Your Coffee

by Amy Johnson

Green tea:

1. Boosts your metabolism—combine drinking green tea with a healthy lifestyle and you may notice a reduction in your body fat.
2. Kills bacteria—the catechins in green tea can slow down the growth of streptococcus mutans, the primary harmful bacteria in your mouth, and kill bacteria and inhibit viruses like Influenza, making you healthier.
3. Lowers your risk of type II diabetes—green tea can improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood sugar levels, which helps to lower the overall risk of developing type II diabetes.
4. Lowers your risk of getting cancer—antioxidants in green tea help to counteract oxidative damage that can cause cancer, lowering the overall chances of developing cancer.
5. Lowers your chances of developing Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s—catechins in green tea have protective effects on neurons, helping them to avoid disease.
6. Increases your sex drive—L-theanine in green tea acts as a mood booster, increasing dopamine levels in both men and women. 
7. Improves brain function—according to scientists from Newcastle University, green tea helps to keep your brain active and healthy.
8. Can make you smarter—L-theanine helps to stimulate brain activity, helping your brain be more focused, making you alert, and allowing you to concentrate for longer periods of time.

Six Tools to Help You Get More Done

by Kelsey Meyer

You don’t need to be the superhero of tasks to save your business every single day. Take advantage of productivity tools available and watch your scary to-do list melt away like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Zapier: Connect the apps you use, automate tasks, get more out of your data.
Being able to automate tasks and processes can change the way you and your team work, from helping streamlining hiring to tracking lead generation to communicating via your internal messaging system. They've just launched Multi-Step Zaps a tool that lets professionals easily connect business software, such as Slack, Trello and MailChimp, to create a series of automated events.

BuzzSumo: Analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor.
Follow along with what’s trending in your industry, stay up-to-date on your competitors, and where your industry is headed. This helps you create consistently relevant content and helps you find inspiration for your next blog post.

Organizational "knowledge bank.''
Cataloging the knowledge and expertise of your organization's internal experts is invaluable when creating exceptional, engaging content. Simply use Google Docs or a knowledge management template, and organize tabs that align with your industry and internal processes.

Mixmax: Track, automate, and enhance your emails with the essential productivity suite for Gmail and Google Inbox.
Follow up with leads, track and automate Gmails. See who opens your Google messages, etc.

Buffer: Social media management for marketers and agencies.
Organize your social media efforts and maintain consistency for a more effective marketing strategy. Allows you to schedule social posts, efficiently promote your company’s content, easily monitor conversations your audience is having online, and track the success of your posts.

15Five: Know The Pulse Of Your Company—what they accomplished, where they’re struggling, how they’re feeling and more.
Ensuring your team is on the same page, enjoying what they do and communicating wins, losses and what they’ve learned can have a major impact on your company’s culture and overall productivity. Give someone a shout-out for being awesome that week!

Is It Really Okay to Write "Bad" Poetry?

What if writing "bad" poetry is what improves your emotional health and intellectual abilities enough so you can someday write better?

What if "bad" poetry can be revised and polished a few times into something more presentable?

What if you just have to write enough "bad" poems to fill in between all the good ones your Muse gives you?

What if writing "bad" poetry keeps you in the game long enough for lightning to strike?

What if writing "bad" poetry improves your skills enough so your Muse can use you better as an artist?

What if the willingness to write "bad" poetry, and publish it for all to see, is the price you have to pay for getting better?

What if you realized that even the great poets wrote "bad" poetry much of the time?