So, funny story, I'm in the library in the "new" section and I grab a light blue book that looks like a quick read on marketing or brand-building or something. I fly through it and think, I've totally heard of Zappos before. Then, my husband gets home and is like, "I've been dying to read that book!" And I go, "um, yeah, definitely, it's really good you'll love it." But, really, I found it by accident. But I did read it and it is good. So, all's well that ends well.

I started using SEMRush for numerous clients. It has been a helpful tool. Like any software, it has its unique features and functions. I thought it may be helpful to relay the whys and hows and to recommend it for certain uses. Here are some of the features and screenshots of what you get with an SEMRush subscription.

“The most important lesson I can share about brand marketing is this: you definitely, certainly, and surely don’t have enough time and money to build a brand for everyone. You can’t. Don’t try. Be specific. Be very specific.”Seth Godin, This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Good writers read a lot of books. And hopefully pull off better sentences than that one. I read all of the time. All kinds of books. Serious books, Christian books, biographies, novels, professional development, etc. I think reading gives me an edge over the considerable copywriting competition out there. There are a lot of great digital marketers. I can offer my clients the latest greatest and most innovative copy by reading. So, I want to do these quick little reviews of books I benefit from... for the benefit of anyone else who's interested.

As you write ads, craft messaging and tell your story, do you ever wish you had a crystal ball to predict how it will be perceived? I suspect many of us feel it the moment before we hit "confirm" on a pricey PPC or social ad. I know I do. That dread of, if this ends up costing like $70 a lead I'm going to be so annoyed.Is there a way to improve your understanding of consumer behaviors to more accurately predict success? Maybe not every time. But there are ways to gain better insight into what customers are thinking and how a customer will behave.

An elevator pitch is a sales pitch that is short and succinct enough to be told during an elevator ride. In other words, writing an elevator pitch gives you a stump: something short, repeatable and interesting. There are a few key elements to a good elevator pitch. These elements will help make sure that this highly repeatable message hits all the right notes and has the best chance of getting you new business.

Just like digital marketing changes in 2019, 2020 will hold a plethora of new challenges and opportunities for your brand. With more platforms than ever, your brand has the chance to be heard in numerous digital spaces. How do you plan to leverage the (potentially) rapt audience that is the internet?First, you can't do it all. Unless you have an entire team of marketing strategists and worker bees, there is no way you are going to leverage every single platform. What does this mean?

Every blogger should read novels. Every marketing writer should read novels. If you don’t read, you can’t write. Period. If you can admit, “I don’t remember the last time I read a book for fun,” then your writing abilities can’t be trusted.

Three key aspects of digital marketing in 2019 were: ONE: New trends in Google TWO: Continued rise of video THREE: The persistence of influencer marketing

Establishing a clear and recognizable brand voice is an important exercise for start-ups and small businesses that want to show up in the marketplace. Not everyone makes it here, to be honest. I've worked with some brands who have no clarity. They speak in different voices, tones and messages... and it is a problem. It makes ads less effective, your website unreadable and emails super confusing. Who are you, again?

Using pain points is a long tradition in marketing. Pain points are essentially the areas in which your target customer feels pain. This can be simple pain, like an irritation or inconvenience. It can also be larger pain, like a crisis or complex issue. The starting point for determining these pain points is your buyer persona. Click here to see a short video about that. Great marketing makes your buyer feel the pain of not having what they need.

CTA is a Call To Action. CTAs are a part of your website, online shop or marketing materials. Your overarching marketing strategy should include pointed and winning CTAs. They are essentially the way you are asking customers to interact. They range from short and sweet to more complex. You should have a coherent strategy behind the CTAs that you publish on your website and throughout your marketing content.

As your business grows, you will want to grow in your ability to market to customers. This means using some tools that will help you efficiently organize your marketing messages and ads. It’s important that you get the right messages to the right customers at the right time. If real estate is all about location, location, location, than digital marketing is all about timing, timing, timing.

The more I work with teams of writers - including content people, web developers and marketers - the more I realize that a lot of teams really don't have a conscious or conscientious approach to SEO blogging. There are plenty of resources out there about this. There are a few steps people just seem to miss, or don't understand, that seriously impact their search rank. An SEO blog doesn't have to be a compromise of your content.

Marketing should be data-driven. In other words, what you know to be true (not what you think, feel or guess) should drive your behavior. You should always approach marketing from the approach of actual lead conversion numbers. This will help you avoid giving into nebulous numbers, like "impressions" and keep you dedicated to the tasks that actually make you money. Interesting marketing statistics like these can help you understand the places and practices that should be most successful for your investment of time and marketing spend.

Having a brand guide places boundaries on how partners, employees and even you yourself talk about your start-up or small business. Having a brand guide for your business is immensely helpful, because even an owner or leader tends to communicate in a personal way. The idea of a branding guide is to set a standard that delineates the words and look of your company so that, as your digital presence grows, you are increasingly recognizable.

Like it or not, social media comprises a huge portion of people's time, interactions and decisions. There is a great deal of compelling evidence that translates to: yes, your small business should do social media. However, it is also reality that you have limited time and resources. There are a few core activities that I believe you can begin with to establish a social media presence for your small business or brand. While there is an entire ocean of possibilities, if you have to start somewhere: start here.

Creating a landing page is a frequently utilized technique for marketing businesses of every size. A landing page is simply a website page with a unique URL that is not part of your regular website. This means that for someone to visit it, they need to click a link or have the URL. There are many ways in which a landing page can serve you well in marketing a small business. Landing pages should include branded copy that supports your business and offers something in exchange for an email address. A landing page is an important element of a small business digital marketing strategy. So, let's start with the basics.

This will be short and sweet. I read two stats today from Compass Co Blog that will blow your mind. It's almost too easy to reduce bounce rates. Read my summary of the simple steps you can take to keep people hanging around your site.

Creating a digital marketing plan for your small business can feel overwhelming. There are so many kinds of small businesses that need to market. Digital marketing can be a vital component to pretty much every kind of business you can think of.

Let’s talk about SEO for small business websites. SEO is Search Engine Optimization. SEO or SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is a method in which you edit content on your website to increase your search engine ranking. There are various ways to do this, some of which can easily be done by anyone.

Business blogging is simply writing informative or entertaining articles. The goal of a business blog is to engage current clients with interaction and value-adds AND to generate new traffic or secure new leads. These dual goals often muddy the waters of strategy, but both are attainable with the same body of content IF you have a good strategy.