Home › Blog › Page 2

50 Website Content Strategies For Professionals – Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series 50 Website Content Strategies For Professionals

Where we will go in this strategy series

There are dozens of books (and multiples more articles) on marketing strategies for every size and sector of the commercial universe. Well and good, but a successful online content marketing strategy must be matched to specific strategic objectives. This is moreso for service professionals – lawyers, accountants and all superannuation, insurance and finance professionals – who must balance the specific needs of clients for whom they also maintain a duty of care.

If you read widely about content marketing, it is soon clear that there are a multitude of views, in fact too many, often glaringly at odds with each other. Service professionals find this hard to comprehend because inconsistency is death in the world of professional relationships with clients. What we want is certitude, for ourselves in dealing with regulatory authorities, and for the advice we are able to offer our clients. But in the online world, a diversity of views is more easily explained and sometimes welcomed. Despite the desire of some to see online content marketing as an analytical tool, it is in fact essentially a creative enterprise. In reality the commentaries of “experts” should be more productively viewed as “creative suggestions”, and that is also true for search engine optimisation (SEO), whose practitioners often claim a more scientific approach.

The 50 strategies presented here, by a fellow mature professional, are certainly worth consideration, but always with an eye to the specific needs of your firm. If you are certain of your firm’s marketing goals, and understand the needs of your clients or prospective clients, you are already well ahead of most professionals in the strategy stakes.

Strategy One – Know your clients’ pain points

What is the essence of a good friendship? Shared views or political ideologies? The same religious outlook? Philosophical agreement? A particular genre of movies? Of course not. As anyone with brains and a heart knows, it is the extent of your ability to step into the shoes of another that defines a really successful friendship. In other words, empathy.

This may no longer be true for a younger generation raised in the age of social media, in which relationships (of sorts) can in fact be conducted in a virtual world where shoes do not exist. It does however illustrate the same problems and opportunities you face if you want to successfully communicate with clients and prospective clients on your firm’s website. One thing is for certain, no matter what strategy you adopt, you must offer useful information for your clients and prospective clients. Otherwise your website content  is no more than an online brochure, and sadly for you that is no longer an acceptable online presence.

For service professionals, the ability to comprehend a client’s pain point is the greatest strategic advantage. This requires a professional knowledge of the issues that beset clients and prospective clients – legal, financial, bureaucratic, regulatory, emotional or whatever – and your expertise as the agent to alleviate those issues. Clients often express those concerns in terms of frustrated goals – what are your clients’ goals, and what can you do to help them achieve them?

So as a first step, ask yourself honestly, “do I really understand the goals of my clients, and can I properly articulate them?”

Many psychologists and biologists ascribe all human behaviour to the evolutionary imperative to avoid pain and maintain pleasure. So what are your clients’ pain points? What do they want to achieve when faced with a problem? In what ways can you help them avoid problems or prepare for the future? Is there an overarching aim that characterises your clients’ needs? Do you understand a client archetype? Have you developed a shorthand that quickly deciphers those needs because the client fits one of those archetypes?

For instance, at times it is clear that the client has a straightforward goal – perhaps they want assistance to make their business more successful. That may appear to be a one-dimensional goal, but all professionals understand that it will encompass a larger and more complex set of aspirations. That’s why all professionals learn to recognise the signs of a hidden client agenda. Once you read those covert signs – words like “hope’, “wish”, “family”, “respect”, “need”, “future” – you can readily adjust your advice to meet those goals.

The same is true for your website content. In what ways can you meet the spectrum of needs of your client base? One of the advantages of website content is it’s ability to meet multiple client needs, often achieved with open-ended questions. This works because it mimics the essence of a good client interview, and competent professionals have those techniques ingrained by years of everyday client interaction. Some basic strategies of web content marketing will help you translate that accumulated knowledge to your website content.

Strategy Two – Speak your client’s language

Do your clients say, “I need to invest in a managed fund to ensure a lower risk but substantive return strategised by a professional and pooled with like-minded investors?” Is that the way they talk? Of course not. What they tell you is “I’m wondering about a managed fund as a safe investment that suits my needs”.  Given those needs, which they will articulate in response to your expert questions, you will be able to tell them the short and long term prospects for the investment; the tax implications; the cash flow required to support the investment; the merits relatives to other investments; the opportunity costs. And much more.

This all coalesces into one essential strategy – do you speak your client’s language? Are you able to convey this understanding in the information on your website? Can you communicate in a way that allows them to believe, without the benefit of a face to face meeting, that you are on their side? Will they come away from your website with a belief that a first interview is likely to be a worthwhile investment of their time and energy?

Strategy Three – Know who is not your client

Professionals who venture into website content marketing often aim too wide. This is understandable. You have a lot to say, you want to tell everyone about your wonderful firm, you want to demonstrate the breadth of your expertise. There is a place for some of this, and that’s the About Us profile page of your website. Content marketing for professionals is about the client, not you – that’s why it’s called “marketing”, but you’re not marketing to yourself! Content marketing is most successful when it is targeted to the needs of your client base, not the world at large. Not everyone is a potential client, nor should they be if you want to get the attention of the ones who might take that step through the front door of your office.

Strategy Four – Create an effective website

A cursory look around the web is enough to know that many smaller professional firms have inadequate websites, or have been fooled into a belief that the only workable website is going to cost them far more than they are prepared to spend. In part the business case for content marketing and a reasonable spend on web design must be explained to reluctant participants, but they must also understand that bigger is not always (in fact very often not) better.

Clients want information that is clearly presented to showcases the expertise of the firm, written in plain English. They rarely interact with a website as a “consumer”, at least not in the same manner as a retail customer. Clients and prospective clients are far less likely to be impressed by whizz-bang technology, flash animations and image dominated interfaces, in fact they may instead wonder why their fees are being used for such silliness. What they want is:

  • A well written and informative “About Us” page
  • Comprehensive contact information
  • Lots of up-to-date information
  • A well written FAQ page that answers and anticipates client queries
  • Ongoing information, usually a blog and/or newsletter
  • If possible, a “responsive” theme that is optimised for mobile and loads quickly (very important for mobile users)

These features can be economically fulfilled, in fact it is possible to do it on your own using WordPress.

Strategy Five – Create something new

Of course you don’t want to take a wayward path that sets you on a radically different course than your professional peers, but if all you serve to your clients or prospective clients is the same content recipe as your competitors, you will not achieve much in the way of “marketing”.

The reality in advertising is that no one “needs” anything. Do we really need twenty brands of washing liquid? Do we really need ten versions of the same basic Windows PC? Why is the new model of any product so much more attractive than the original, especially when the improvement is largely cosmetic or marginally better? How important is it to buy a “revised edition” of a book that might only have tweaked a single chapter from the first edition? The answer is “marketing” – and content marketing is what separates your website content from the other service professionals. In the world of content marketing, never underestimate your ability to tell your story in a compelling individualistic manner that grabs the attention of a reader.

Strategy Six – Make the client feel special

We all want self-esteem, and that includes your clients. In this regard professionals need to be careful not to underestimate the intelligence of their clients or prospective clients.

Some professionals have a tendency – although less so over time – to deal with clients from an apparently ascendant position. Mature professionals or older clients can remember a time when the advice of an esteemed professional was sacrosanct. Those days are gone, in fact one of the consequences of the internet age is the democratisation of professional advice. Nowadays clients who access online information will not be patronised. In part the solution is to write in a conversational tone, but it also important to be genuinely interested in a communication between equals. That is the true nature of online client support.

To address any perceived professional-client imbalance, it’s important to have a well constructed FAQ page. This is not just a way to anticipate the objections of prospective clients, but also a means to show that you care about their needs. Mean it – don’t fake it, because it will be obvious and negate your marketing efforts.

Strategy Seven – Have a well-judged opinion

Professionals frequently earn a deserved reputation for blandness. Hopefully that’s not you, so separate yourself from the herd with a viewpoint. You don’t need to set yourself up as a focus of controversy, instead be a decisive voice with a definitive view that is buttressed by your professional experience.

If part of the rationale for effective content marketing is the replication of “word of mouth”, then a well-founded opinion will help this effort. Professionals need to do this with an eye to a red line that should not be crossed.

[Data] shows that controversy increases likelihood of discussion at low levels, but beyond a moderate level of controversy, additional controversy actually decreases likelihood of discussion (Jonah Berger and Zoey Chen).

Where is that red line? It’s certainly productive to create a blog post that questions the stringent rules associated with superannuation investments, but it will hurt your efforts if you extend the argument to the need to protect the wealthiest members of society. That may be your opinion, and even reflect your client base, but it is also a dubious view that may find it’s way beyond your website and into the wider community.

But sometimes it’s productive to undermine a sacred cow. “Why industry superannuation funds are stealing your money” is a reasonable headline if followed by a reasoned explanation in favor of self managed superannuation. This can lead to a discussion of the value of self-determination and highlight your ability to guide clients in that direction.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

50 Website Content Strategies For Professionals Part 1 #ContentMarketing for mature #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

photo credit: davidkjelkerud via photopin


Should Professionals Care About Website Content?

Typing

Why professionals don’t have a content culture

It is no easy task to convince professionals – especially smaller suburban firms that make up the vast majority of the totality of employment across all professions – to undertake a task that appears to be a waste of very precious time.

And there’s some truth to that view. The content on your website is not a core function of your firm, and the hucksters who try to tell you otherwise have clearly never run a professional practice, met a professional payroll or dealt with the myriad issues that arise every day. For smaller professionals it can be a daily slog through a minefield. Why the hell should they care about the content on their websites?

Stop raising the bar

There are in fact good reasons why professionals should create informative and productive website content, and I say this as someone who also works as a suburban professional. I won’t resort to the Google Blackmail (“you MUST be on page one of Google”) – it’s rubbish, and anyway, if the rules to potentially achieve this search engine Shangri-La were ever doable, they have changed over the last couple of years.

So it’s a fair question that I have addressed in another post. Do you need an online marketing strategy? If you want to research it in more depth, then take a look at our series of MatureMedia Guides. If you do intend to pursue a content marketing strategy – which need not be more than carefully targeted website content which includes an informative bio, a Q&A section about the firm and your services, a set of information guides about those services and (hopefully) a blog post every week or so – then how do you create the culture to support it?

A creative mindset

If there is one refrain from the principals of smaller professional firms – lawyers, accountants and all superannuation, insurance and finance professionals – to explain the reason they cannot write content, it’s that they believe they don’t have anything interesting to say. This appears to be a straightforward creative problem, but that’s only the case if you believe you must wear a creative hat to produce business content. It’s a golden oldie you probably learnt back in your schooldays, with the hackneyed refrain, “I’m just not creative”. You’re older now, and though it’s indeed hard to pick at the scab of wounds suffered at school, you need to remind yourself that content for your website is business all the way. It has very little to do with creativity.

There is a simple mechanism to overcome this negative mindset, that takes it out of the “creative” milieu and back into your comfort zone. You need to establish a system to get it done, in exactly the same way that you have a technology base for your firm, or a set of pro formas, or a well-defined path that takes a client from the first phone call to an initial interview and the opening of a file. You have these things because they make it possible to get on with the creation of work and not be overwhelmed by the minutiae of its implementation. You need the same type of mechanism for content production.

In the next post I’ll lay out some straightforward  rules to establish a creative mindset at your firm.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

Should Professionals Care About Website Content? #ContentMarketing for mature #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc


5 Rules To Find A Creative Mindset At Your Professional Firm

Creativity for professionals

The principals of smaller professional firms – lawyers, accountants and all superannuation, insurance and finance professionals – often complain that they cannot write content for their websites because they don’t have anything interesting to say. Here’s a foolproof system to foster a creative culture at your firm:

  1. Take a holistic content inventory of the firm. Open the doors, tell every staff member (including admin staff) to come up with three ideas that might work as good content for your website. Give it a few days, encourage them to talk to each other. The best ideas will be the stories of clients, especially if they have a happy ending (best avoid the disasters). Stories of client successes are both reassuring and informative, which is a marketers dream combination.
  2. Read something out of your comfort zone. Go for a tour around the internet and look at other websites in your professional area that have ranked highly on Google, but if possible concentrate more on the smaller suburban firms. They generally won’t be the first page results, which are often monopolised by the larger firms that have used professional (and generally high priced) search engine optimisation experts, but it is where you will find your inspiration. The best advice is to set up an RSS reader, which aggregates syndicated web content such as blogs in a single location. Unfortunately Google Reader has shut its doors, so I now use Feedly, which has a nice interface and is easy to use. If you use Feedly (or another aggregator, there are many) to subscribe to a variety of blogs in your professional area, you will be quickly be amazed at the creativity of some of your colleagues. When you come across a useful blog, just add it to your RSS reader and each time you check in it will display the latest post or article. Simple. Believe me, you will get lost of ideas for posts or website information for your clients.
  3. Don’t be judgmental. This is of course good advice in general, but in this circumstance it is a business, not moral issue. If you believe there is no room for content marketing at your firm, then that is what will happen. Perception is reality. A closed mindset can never be creative. If you believe there is no return on the time investment (ROI) then there will be no investment in the first place. It’s a mathematical certainty. If you need something to challenge that prejudice, we have an eBook devoted to the issue, The Business Case For Content Marketing. It’s free.
  4. Look at yourself. What exactly is the problem here?  After all, you have a professional qualification, presumably you are literate and able to research an issue on behalf of clients. As in all psychological blocks, the first step is to properly define the problem. Perhaps it’s the word “creative”? Then change it to something else. How about “client services”, or “enhanced client relations” or “client investment” – you get the idea. Is it about self confidence? Here’s a secret – no one really knows how to write. Remember the Geoffrey Rush character in Shakespeare In Love? He plays the beleaguered theatre producer Henslowe, and in one scene attempts to placate the nervous backer Fennyman:

Philip Henslowe:
Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

Hugh Fennyman:
So what do we do?

Philip Henslowe:
Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.

Hugh Fennyman:
How?

Philip Henslowe:
I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

I have written hundreds of published articles, books etc, and I assure you the only way to produce content is to do it. Remember, you can always go back and edit as much as you wish, but first just do it.

  1. Change hats. This is a reference to Edward de Bono’s “thinking hats”. Content marketing is strategy, more akin to publishing than the customary strategies we might find in a standard business plan. In every other aspect of your firm you need appropriate commercial skills. In this one area, however, those same skills can be more hindrance than help. What’s needed is a different perspective. Dr. Edward de Bono developed the idea of “thinking hats” to attack business problems from singular perspectives. Each hat represents a state of mind, for example emotional, creative or informational. It reminds us to wear different hats for different business needs, each appropriate to that need, otherwise we tend towards unfocussed thinking and cluttered perspectives. When it comes to content marketing, you need your publishing hat and its perspective. That way you can propose the strategic questions a publisher might ask. What are the information needs that I can address on behalf of my clients? How can I take that opportunity, meet those unmet needs, and communicate a compelling response? That’s the hat you want to be wearing when you sit down to write.

That’s the foundation. Give it a try and you will soon be producing content with the best of them.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

5 Rules For Professionals To Find A Creative Mindset For Their Firms #ContentMarketing for mature…

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

 

photo credit: onesevenone via photopin


Should Professional Firms Use WordPress?

Wordpress Logo

Why WordPress for professional firms?

There won’t be many professional firms who choose to build their own website, and though the exercise is certainly educational, it can be frustrating if you have little or no experience. Not to say that it cannot be done, nor that it is not a worthwhile exercise. You will really learn a lot, but be prepared to invest time and effort. My preferred website platform is WordPress.

As the WordPress designers describe it:

“WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins and widgets and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination.”

There is a version of WordPress that is hosted free by the creators, WordPress.com, but it is not recommended for any professional. WordPress.org allows you to download a basic website structure which you then host yourself and “own” as a proprietary piece of internet real estate. This is the only option for a professional firm.

There are others blogging platforms, including:

  • Blogger (owned by Google) – it has a very quick setup, drag and drop editing, and is easy to use. Many professionals do so.
  • Tumblr – this is an interesting fusion between a blog and a Twitter-like feed. Now owned by Yahoo.

WordPress advertizes a ‘five minute installation”. That’s true as far as the basic installation is concerned, and it’s a potent marketing line, but the installation is only the very beginning of the WordPress journey. Be warned – people will tell you that WordPress is simple to use, and yes, there are hundreds of books and online tutorials to help you use WordPress (including at WordPress). As well there are thousands of online forums devoted to WordPress, where adherents exchange information (and sometimes insults). But despite the proliferation of helpful advice, the best way to understand WordPress is to use it and allow yourself the time to understand “the way it thinks”.

Get web hosting

If you use WordPress.org,  as I recommend, you will need a domain name and web hosting. Again, there are hundreds of companies that offer this service, but make sure will be happy with the decision for the long-term. Obviously if you have chosen to hire a consultant to build your website, then you can take their advice on these matters, and likely they will handle it for you.

For what it’s worth I use VentraIP for both domain name registration and hosting. I have no business affiliation with them, but my experience over four years has been consistently excellent, and they respond to queries quickly and efficiently. I like the fact their severs are domestically based, though many well known bloggers swear by providers that are in another country. Do some research, make up your own mind.

Get a theme

WordPress gives you a basic structure for your website (or stand alone blog) – a “Theme” builds on that basic structure, like accessorising a piece of clothing to create a different look. In other words, a Theme is a skin for your blog. However, the basic structure of a WordPress site is the same for everyone. Happily for us, WordPress is kind enough to make the code for that structure freely available (called “open source”), so programmers can create “skins” to overlay it. This is achieved by incorporating style “templates” into the WordPress structure. Some of these Themes are free, some are not, and there are plenty of good examples in both camps. Every designer, free or not, offers a gallery to preview the themes. I believe it is always worth the investment in a paid theme, usually around $50 or more.

Should professional firms use WordPress?

This is a complicated issue – you can certainly have a WordPress website built by a consultant/contractor. However, WordPress updates its themes all the time, so it is not a “set and forget” website platform. I love it because I have learned how to make most changes myself, I enjoy the challenge, and I produce content on a regular basis and it would be prohibitive (and unnecessary) to hire a consultant to handle this. However, any website built on your behalf should allow you to edit and add new content on your own.

If you have your website built on a WordPress platform, or do it yourself, these are words of warning from a website reviewer:

“Hiring a WordPress contractor is a very common practice for most non-technical WordPress gurus and the cost can add up over the years – we’ve had our fair share of contractors.  The hiring process could be stressful and you really don’t know what you’re going to get until you pay them to do the work.  Further, when WordPress updates its platform, you may need to hire the contractor again to ensure all the custom work is compatible.”

I love WordPress, in fact in my travels through the web landscape, it’s the most impressive creation out there. It also has a huge “community” and (literally) tens of thousands of “plugins” and “widgets” (tools created by developers, often free) to assist in its evolution. Nevertheless, there can be a steep learning curve because it is not really an intuitive platform. My best advice is to find a local website builder who can give you an honest assessment based on your needs. But if you have the time, and you want control of your website, WordPress is really quite brilliant.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below: 

Should Professional Firms Use WordPress? #ContentMarketing for #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

photo credit: Peregrino Will Reign via photopin


Should Professionals Guest Blog?

Hotel

What Is Guest Blogging?

The concept is simple – you find a site that accepts articles (blog posts) by guest writers, offer up your work, they publish it, and then you bask in the reflected glory. Anyway, that’s the concept.

As we know, content marketing is the hottest topic in the online world, and “guest-blogging” is currently its favourite child. It has been popularized as a reliable source of links to your own website. Why? Search engines are the judges in a worldwide competition, a beauty contest between the competitor websites. Other websites are also casting votes by way of links. And the more links to your site, the higher its ranking. This is called “link popularity”.

Search engines listen to the opinion of other websites in order to form an opinion about yours. If lots of sites link to your page, that tells the search engine your site is important. So what you want are inbound links, the more the better, though the quality of those links is critically important. When you have an article published on another site, your authorship creates a link back to your own website, for instance “Written by Geoffrey Winn at MatureMedia”. Depending on the rules attached to the home blog of the article, there may also be opportunities to link back to your website in the body of the post.

However, as we will see later in this post, this theory may no longer be as relevant to guest posting if it is only to gain links.

Guest Blogging Spam

Before Google began its “animal” updates, guest blogging was sometimes a source of search engine spam. You found appropriate keywords for your firm, wrote a guest post that emphasised those keywords without regard to their relevance or context to the readers of the target website, and reaped the rewards in extra traffic. Changes to Google have made this a far less attractive proposition.

Nowadays you need to look for opportunities that emphasise relevance (is the target blog relevant to your firm’s business e.g. a superannuation blog that has a similar readership to your clients), quality (is the target blog a high quality site), and opportunity (does the target site get the attention of Google).

Find Guest Blogging Opportunities

So how do you find relevant opportunities for guest blogging? First, use one or all of a series of search phrases (and grammatical variations of each) that relate to guest blogging, e.g:

  • “submit a guest post”
  • “guest post”
  • “we accept guest posts”
  • “write for us”

Combine each of these with keywords that are important to your clients. So, for instance, if you are an accountant and you want to attract retirees for investment advice, you might put some of the following in the Google search box:

  • “superannuation retirement” “submit a guest post”
  • “retirement investment accountant” “guest post”
  • “how to retire” “we accept guest posts”
  • “long term investments” “write for us”

You will get many results. Read some, decide which website you might want to write for (e.g. do you want a site in your city?), and then check their guest blogging guidelines, which can sometimes be onerous. I recently considered a submission to a well trafficked website, but was shocked at the stringent conditions attached to each submission. Although I understand that popular sites must be choosy, at the end of the day it was not worth the effort.

How To Pitch A Guest Blog Post

If not well written, you can be certain the email that pitches your guest blog post will be quickly discarded. So if it is not grammatically correct, reasonably discursive and intelligent, don’t even bother. Make sure your “pitch” has at least the following:

  • Has diligently follow the guest posting guidelines of the website
  • A well thought-out and carefully crafted subject line for the email
  • A very short bio for your firm, including your expertise
  • Share something about their blog and what you like about it
  • Why their readers will be interested in the topic – include a short summary
  • ALL your personal contact details – don’t make them go through a switchboard and leave a message

Latest Google Guidelines About Guest Blogging

Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team (and a really well known SEO commentator to whom everyone listens) had the following to say in January 2014:

Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company… Ultimately, this is why we can’t have nice things in the SEO space: a trend starts out as authentic. Then more and more people pile on until only the barest trace of legitimate behavior remains. We’ve reached the point in the downward spiral where people are hawking “guest post outsourcing” and writing articles about “how to automate guest blogging.”… There are still many good reasons to do some guest blogging (exposure, branding, increased reach, community, etc.). Those reasons existed way before Google and they’ll continue into the future.

Get it? If you want to guest post to largely gain traffic, the effort is misplaced. As Cutts writes, “I’m talking about guest blogging for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes”. So if you want to write for a blog or website that is respected in your professional field, and you hope to attract some of its readers to your site, than that’s great. And well worth the effort.

According to search optimisation genius Nail Patel, “…if you use it to help build up your brand, referral traffic, and overall sales, it will continue to be a great strategy”.

This is an evolving subject. I’ll keep you posted as this pans out.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

Should Professionals Guest Blog? #ContentMarketing for mature #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

photo credit: Gord McKenna via photopin


Keyword Planner For Professional Firms

Wordle - Keywords

The day Google killed its Keyword Tool

August 28th, 2013 was a sad day in the annals of DIY bloggers and content-makers. Once it was easy enough to find keywords for your firm’s website. You looked into the bowels of the Google Keyword Tool and presto, there they were, keywords of every shape and description. The results also told you how often (or how little) that term was searched by prospective clients looking for a service just like yours. It was a godsend.

But godsend no longer, not after August 28th, 2013. A day of infamy.

What is Keyword research?

Keyword research attempts to predict the words clients and prospective clients might type into a search engine when they look for the service you provide. You then use those words, strategically placed in your website content, to attract them to your firm’s website. Keyword research is basic, and should be looked at by anyone who writes targeted (optimised) content. It should also be conducted for every page on your website, and every blog post you write.

But how does the search engine know what searchers specifically want if, as is usually the case, the searcher does not type those specific words (in fact often the searchers don’t know, that’s why they’re doing “research” or “surfing”).

Using the Google Planner

Google still has a lesser keyword tool, the Google Keyword Planner, but it associated with its paid Google AdWords. You get it when you sign up for an AdWords account. You can use it to get the average monthly searches for the terms you have identified as potential keywords. Again, your ideal keyword has low competition and high search volume, but they are obviously scarce.

First use the “new keyword or ad group ideas” function. Then type in a broad search term for your professional service e.g. “family law”. You will receive a list of “related words” to check. So “family law” might return “divorce lawyer” “financial agreement” “custody” etc.

Then check the search volume and level of competition for that keyword. This is where it gets interesting. The most common failing of professional firms is to target keywords that are the most popular (e.g. “make a Will”), not understanding that the same keyword (or keyphrase) will also be targeted by larger competitors. This will be challenging (at the least) if you are a small firm competing with a much larger firm for the same keywords.

Look at the long tail

Although you might logically think the most popular search terms are the majority of searches, in fact they account for less than 30% of the total searches performed on the web. The remaining 70% are the so-called “long tail” of search. This is the treasure trove you can mine and refine with the Keyword Planner – the hundreds of millions of unique search terms that appear less often, but when added together represent the largest percentage of all searches.

Remember, for every person who searches a broad term like “accountant” or “lawyer” or “financial planner” or “insurance broker”, there are many more who search for a specific service by an accountant or lawyer or financial planner or insurance broker, e.g. “self managed superannuation fund” or “family law financial agreement” or “flood insurance broker in Smithville” or “family trusts tax returns”.

There is another element at work here. A decade ago we would be more likely to search for a standard keyword and use the search engine results to sift through the resulting information to clarify what we wanted. Nowadays there is an evolutionary development in the sophistication of searchers, who are more likely to begin the search for more targeted words. Those targeted words are more “long tailed” by nature, which makes them ever more important.

Don’t run to consultants

At best keyword research is problematic. This is even moreso given Google’s decision to withhold information that was once the bedrock of any keyword research, especially for those who relied on free research available through the Google Keyword Tool.

This is a complicated issue, because it may appear to make hiring an SEO expert a greater imperative. There is no doubt that the withdrawal of the Google Keyword Tool is a major setback to DIY keyword analysis, but at the same time other Google changes have also taken place in it’s algorithms, and the effects must be analyzed holistically. Content research is more than technical use of a tool – it’s also knowing your clients and the client you want to attract to your firm, the overall quality of your content, and the trust that your content engenders.

There is very much you can do on your own before you need to seek (expensive) outside help.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

Find Keywords With Google Planner #ContentMarketing for mature #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

photo credit: cbucky via photopin


How Professionals Can Use Feedly To Create Website Content

What Is Feedly?

Feedly is a news aggregator that has blossomed on the back of the demise of the best known aggregator, Google Reader. Sometimes called a “feed aggregator”, these are web applications that collect syndicated internet content, including blog posts, podcasts, news reports etc. For the purpose of this post, we will concentrate on the aggregation of blog posts.

Let’s say there are twenty website you want to follow on a regular basis. This is especially helpful if you wish to maintain a protracted research effort. For me, this is to stay up to date with the latest information about content  marketing, especially as it impacts professionals. You can imagine how much time would be wasted if I was to go through a manual search of these blogs. As well, few bloggers post every day, so this would be at best a hit or miss practice. Instead an aggregator notes the blogs you wish to follow, and when a new article is posted, places it in your account, where it can be found and read the next time you visit.

For the past eight years, Google Reader has been the aggregator of choice, and the application that I used for some time. For reasons that are now irrelevant – there was much angst at the time of the announcement – Google chose to close it. There are many alternative aggregators on the market, none really as proficient, but like many others I decided to give Feedly a go. To be frank, I can’t remember why I chose Feedly, apart from it’s clean design and the fact that it worked hard to fill the breach. It also seemed to be closest to Reader in terms of functionality and was poised to take advantage of its years of development. It’s usage has exploded since Reader closed.

How To Use Feedly

It can be daunting to set up any aggregator. First, read the instructions at Feedly, they are helpful and you will quickly learn the mechanics of the process. But how can Feedly “feed” your blog? It’s simple.

As you look around the web, you will come across articles that appeal to your professional needs, and are worth a look for your clients’ content needs. For example, if you are a family lawyer, you will notice that there are hundreds of blogs that deal with a myriad of family law issues, many which are relevant to your clients, or can be used as research for an article. If your family law firm is interested in collaborative law, you may find a blog that deals specifically with this topic (in fact there are many). You therefore add that blog to your Feedly account and it will aggregate any future posts.

In other words, everything is handled through the Feedly site, there is no need to visit the blog again. Simple.

My Feedly

You add blog URLs to your “My Feedly” section. There you can categorise it (e.g. put it under the group “Collaborative Law”) so it appears with all the other posts that deal with the same subject. Each time you open Feedly, the unread aggregated feeds are grouped under headings, as well as an “All” category that tells you how many articles you have to read. When you click on the categories you are taken to a line summary of the article, so it’s easy enough to choose whether you want to read the full article or quickly delete it. Over time you will learn to scan the articles and streamline the process.

So try Feedly for an ongoing source of ideas for your blog. Remember, a blog is the best way to feed content  to your site, the search engines, and most important to your clients.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

Use Feedly To Create Website Content For Clients #ContentMarketing for mature #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

photo credit: tecnomovida via photopin


Why Professionals Should Optimise Their LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn for professionals

Why LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a great tool for professionals. But to be useful you must understand the structure and parameters of the Profile. This will be the place prospective clients and business partners first check your professional status and expertise. The LinkedIn website makes it all straightforward – they even give you a score to tell you how well you are doing in the Profile stakes. The mechanical details are easy, but it nevertheless requires a degree of subtlety.

A Professional Profile

Obviously you want to highlight what you do – but to what extent, and where should you place the focus? Contrary to what may appear to be a common sense view, your history is somewhat irrelevant. Really, it’s not very important to any prospective client that you once captained the school under-18 seniors football team. That’s important to you. How about your first job in a multi-national accounting firm where you fell out of love with the corporatized culture and decided to open your own firm based on your own values. Sorry, no interest there either. Ah yes, there was the time you took a chance on an Indian immigrant just arrived in the country who turned out to be something of a genius in the money markets. Great story, yes? No.

Can you see a pattern here? No one is interested in any aspect of your career that has no quantifiable value to them today. It’s fine to write that you have been a personal injuries lawyer for thirty years and an accredited expert for the last  fifteen years, but that’s sufficient.

There is a place for greater detail, and that’s in your About Us page (or whatever you call it – “Our People” or “Our Team”) which resides happily on your website. The only criteria there is whether you have an arresting story to tell that is well written and informative. That’s the opportunity to create your firm’s narrative, not your LinkedIn Profile.

Use Your Client Persona

If you have created a client persona, this is where to put it into action. Who are the people who use your services, or those you would like to see come in for a free first interview? The answer to that question should determine the tone, content and tenor of your LinkedIn Profile.

Let’s say that you are a professional provider of financial services, and in particular self managed superannuation funds. Who is your ideal client persona:

  • New business owners who have moved from the employed sector and have had an industry fund, and will look to roll over to a self managed fund.
  • “Aspirationals” who are looking for a safety net for the future to buttress their present-day risk.
  • Those who want cutting-edge advice.
  • People within a decade of retirement. They need reassurance, a firm hand on the tiller and the beginning of a plan to see them into retirement. They are less interested in the here and now, they are starting to focus on the future.

Based on these “ideal clients”, these are the facts you should emphasise in your Profile:

  • Do not describe yourself as a “financial adviser”, even if that is the way you identify yourself. It’s too nebulous for your target audience. You could be a “Certified financial and strategic superannuation investment adviser”.
  • Concentrate on your expertise as an expert strategic investor for their futures – they want to concentrate on building their wealth.
  • Show you understand the needs of prospective clients whose retirements are drawing closer and worry about the lifestyle they will be able to afford, for themselves and their family.

Obviously the needs are different if you want to focus on your career opportunities, in that case recruiters will want to know more about your experience. But for mature professionals whose focus is prospective clients, it is their needs that are paramount.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

Why Professionals Should Optimise Their  LinkedIn Profile #ContentMarketing for mature…

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

photo credit: clasesdeperiodismo via photopin

 

 


A Content Ideas Bank

How to create a content ideas bank

Multiple sources for content

Looking for content ideas? You are not going to find enough content from a single source to maintain a blog . Yes, it will be okay at the start, but soon enough the ideas will dry up (at least the ones that are interesting to clients) and the pace will inevitably diminish.

The exception might be if you are a business analyst who assiduously reads the business pages of the newspapers nationally and in your city. In that case you are in luck, because the business sections of newspapers appear to be one of their few growth areas, and of course you can read many more online (I subscribe to the New York Times and read it daily).

A curation strategy

I have previously written about my preferred Reader, Feedly, which has a useful interface and is easy to understand. I subscribe (at the time of writing) to thirty or so blogs that I follow, which means I get around twenty articles directed to my account every day. It doesn’t take long to go through them (all readers skim on the internet), you can usually know whether the article is useful within the first minute. If there are, let’s say, ten articles that might be useful, I will direct them to a file and sort them into appropriate headings.

For instance, if I know I am looking to write a series of posts on changes to SEO and Google, I will wait until I have enough articles collected under that heading and then dedicate a segment of time to plan out the series.

This should be a seamless operation. Don’t waste time by reading every article as research as it comes into the Reader, wait until you have grouped a number of articles under a common heading, it will be far more efficient. An even better way to do this is to annotate each link as you place it in your file. So if I have, for example, found a useful article about developing a content strategy for accountants, I might place the URL in the file under a general heading “Accountants” but use the “Ctrl + K” shortcut to create a hyperlink and rename the entry “Good article that lists 10 ways for accountants to repurpose content”.

Twitter is also a useful source for articles to feed your content ideas bank. If you don’t already have a Twitter account, then please take some free advice and set up Twitter. Even if you don’t tweet you can use it to aggregate content from experts. To do this you create a List in your account, and every time you find a blog that might be useful, add the writer’s Twitter handle (the “@XXX”) to your List. That way you always have ideas in your content bank, accessible any time you have internet access.

Paying attention to questions

How many questions do you get asked a day? Not just from clients, but from colleagues? If you are a mature professional, the answer is likely “plenty”. Can you remember those question two weeks later? Likely not, you have moved on. Instead learn how to mine that database of collected wisdom.

When asked something, take just a moment to place the question in a file, perhaps labeled “Questions for Content Ideas Bank” or whatever. And believe me, because the source is part of a back and forth discussion, the resulting article will follow quickly.

On the other hand don’t rely on representative industry magazines or blogs, some are better than others. Many professional journals are written for fellow professionals and drafted in quite a stilted (believed to be “professional”) style. They also tend to focus on technical detail. Your aim should be to explain technical issues in a discursive manner, ideally by telling a compelling story.

In coming posts we’ll look at other ways to find inspiration for your content creation.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

A Content Ideas Bank For Your Website #ContentMarketing for mature #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

 

photo credit: the measure of mike via photopin


A Content Creation Mechanism That Works

Content creation for professional websites

A system for content development

We’ve discussed why professionals should place a premium on content and how to create a content culture ate your firm. Now let’s look at the nuts and bolts – the rules that allow that content to be created at a pace that is sustainable. As we have previously observed:

There is a simple mechanism to overcome this negative mindset, that takes it out of the “creative” milieu and back into your comfort zone. You need to establish a system to get it done, in exactly the same way that you have a technology base for your firm, or a set of pro formas, or a well-defined path that takes a client from the first phone call to an initial interview and the opening of a file. You have these things because they make it possible to get on with the creation of work and not be overwhelmed by the minutiae of its implementation. You need the same type of mechanism for content production.

Introducing a mechanism for content creation

The reason a creative mindset is important is that it overcomes the prejudice we all have because writing is beyond the comfort zone of our professional training. I know you don’t always feel comfortable in your work, far from it, but when presented with a problem on behalf of a client, most of us can utilise our professional training to find a solution. To that extent it is familiar territory and an aspect of what we imagine – and are trained to see – as part of the professional process.

Prolific social commentator Malcolm Gladwell created the “10,000 Hour Rule”. In his book Outliers he posits that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in your field. Does this apply to your own professional practice? Think about how long it took you to learn how to advise clients about the taxation benefits of a self managed superannuation? Or the minutiae of writing a complicated estate management plan? Or a business plan for a client’s startup? Or a retirement strategy for a client in their late fifties with a liquidity dilemma?

I promise, it will not take nearly that effort to learn how to write your own content for your website. Without experts or consultants.

First Do it

There is no substitute for action. You will learn more from the worst attempts to create content than all the research you undertake away from the blank pages that so intimidatingly awaits you. The more you write the better it will be, it’s that simple.

The best time to write? When you have a few moments “free”. There is a lot of rubbish written about planning your blog posts, as though your words are precious jewels that must be nurtured and polished. True, the content that appears on your website that rarely changes (the home page, About Us, FAQ etc) requires a lot of thought and should be part of a larger strategy, but for the ongoing content, just do it. You do not need to write it all at once, you will not lose the thread of the article (it’s not The Brothers Karamazov). But often you will find that the simple act of stealing a few moments is enough to create a flow, and ten minutes later you are steaming ahead.

Many of you will say, “I can’t find a voice for my writing”. Yes you can, it’s the one you use everyday with clients. Write the way you speak, it will improve your writing immeasurably. Waiting for the right words is not only a waste of time, it will produce stilted copy that is not directed at any audience (except for you, or that version of yourself that you believe should represent your profession).

In the next post we’ll look at how to speed the process.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

A Content Creation Method #ContentMarketing for mature #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

photo credit: Patrick Hoesly via photopin

 

 

 

 

 


Is Content Really Everything For Mature Professionals?

Content is everything

What is content?

We tend to think of content as that function of our firm that conveys something of value in writing  to our clients. Here is an aphorism that might make it a little clearer for mature professionals – when it comes to your website, all content is marketing and all marketing is content. What does this mean apart from a smart aleck adage? It means that everything you write on your website should be about marketing to your clients. That is the essence of “content marketing”.

What type of content? Blogs, eBooks, FAQ, webinars, podcasts, media releases, images  – anything that is on the website, including the home page. Everything is content, and all content is marketing. Think of it as a conversation and not words on a page.

Are our firm’s services content too?

Some commentators take this concept to another level.

Having a very linear and restricted view of what content is will only restrict and inhibit results:

– Content is the staff within your business.

– Content is the design of your shop/office.

– Content is your products and services.

– Content is the menus on your tables.

– Content is your company values.

– Content is your customers.

– Content is EVERYTHING.

This might be taking it a little far. You can’t apply the same parameters to services as the content on your website. No matter how innovative you claim to be in your client services, there is an element of sameness in the service delivery amongst professionals. In general, especially for smaller suburban firms, there is not the same scope for innovation as exists in the production of website content, which can be endlessly reimagined.

However, it is how they are described that can make a true marketing difference and add value to the service. As well, the culture and values that encompass service delivery can be seen as  “content”.

But there is no doubt that good content will transform your firm’s website. Bland content, so often associated with professionals – lawyers, accountants and all superannuation, insurance and finance professionals – will only harm those efforts.

What are your goals?

It all depends on your goals. What is your marketing objective? Is your main appeal to existing or prospective clients? What type of narrative will appeal to them? For most small suburban firms that will involve in some form of narrative or storytelling:

We thrive on rich imagery – words are always better when they create an image.  If you are a lawyer describing a will, don’t assume your readers have in mind the same document you do. Instead of describing a will as a “document that deals with your estate”, try to give it some colour. “Why do you need a will? Your family are grieving, they are confused and anxious about the future. The last thing they need is to have those anxieties exacerbated.”

But if your marketing strategy is to reach (for instance) high worth clients concerned with inter-generational wealth transfer that maintains its capital value, a different strategy will be needed. Those clients don’t want a well crafted marketing story, they want a well crafted and communicated investment strategy that uses carefully constructed legal and financial instruments. They want you to exhibit your specific expertise, and they are willing to pay for it.

What content should we produce?

It’s not the “what” that matters – it’s what the content achieves. Does it educate clients? Does it create an empathetic relationship with the client? Does it anticipate or alleviate pain points in their service transactions?

This is a different model than the traditional online “brochure” advertising of most professionals. It requires an understanding of your clients’ wider needs. It is no longer enough to know they need proper house insurance. To properly address those insurance needs, and to lure them through your content, you need to show them you have anticipated their underlying anxieties about the best ways to protect their assets and their families.

That’s real content marketing.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

Is Content Really Everything For Professionals? #ContentMarketing for mature #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

 

photo credit: ®DS via photopin


Why Is Twitter So Complicated?

Why Is Twitter Complicated?

Are mature professionals scared off Twitter?

Here’s the scenario. You’ve followed the rules, worked hard, established a family and burdened yourself with a mortgage that seems to be making the bank (not you) a bundle. Perhaps you’ve chosen to pay for private schooling, and unlike the image popularised by vested interests, you don’t drive a German supercar or follow the changing seasons from snow resort to beach house. In fact the closest you’ve come to a holiday home is that cubby house you built for the kids beside the sandpit in the backyard. But you’re not complaining. You’ve established a profession, and though you set your alarm early, you accept that this is the way to get ahead. Sure, material gain is one of your goals, and the closer you get to retirement the more important that becomes, but what you crave most is security and the steady progress that hard work is meant to bring.

And now the rules have changed. There’s social media, and content marketing, and websites that are no longer a luxury or easily derided as a plaything. In fact it doesn’t  matter what you think, because your competitors are into it and spending good money to outpace you.

Let’s try Twitter

You get advice from a technologically adept colleague – “Get your feet wet with Twitter. It’s easy and only 140 characters”. What can go wrong with 140 characters?

The New York Times ran an article that addressed this issue with its typical journalistic panache:

Using Twitter sounds so simple. Type out no more than 140 characters — the maximum allowed in a single tweet — and hit send. That’s all, right? Not quite. Twitter’s interface may look simple, but it is not, and its complexity has turned off many people who tried the service.

I once used a corporate Twitter account to which, frankly, I paid little attention because it was awaiting the launch of a product (that never happened). I had registered an account to reserve my own name, but otherwise that account was dormant because I had no use for it. In retrospect – and this is a lesson worth learning for mature professionals like me – it would have been far better to start tweeting and not only slowly build the credibility of the account, but also get a handle (pun alert) on how to use it.

Setting up Twitter is the easy part

The setup could not be simpler – it’s deceptively easy. Choose a username (the “handle”), a password, fill in the bio and add an appropriate image (you, your firm logo but not you and the dogs at the beach in Santa hats). My bio @geoffreywinn is:

Lawyer. Content marketing for mature professionals. Bestselling author Bulletproof Your Life. Lifeguard worklife product. Middle-aged and learning.

After that it gets considerably more complicated. You need to learn how to tweet in 140 characters, the etiquette and the rules. And yes, grammar counts. What do hashtags mean? Where to put the @ symbol (it matters). How to retweet, how often, and where to place the retweet designation (I do it at the end – “via @username”). How and when to add comments when you tweet someone else’s article. How to balance the professional and personal tweets ( I have very little personal). How often to tweet? What tools to use (I use Buffer and love it). What proportion of your own work compared with references to others? Do you want to be a trusted content curator?

Have realistic expectations

I don’t want to be a wet blanket, it’s not neurosurgery and you will get the hang of it, but it will not be plain sailing, especially if you approach it with the intent to create a marketing tool for your firm.

I think this is the reason so many mature professionals discard Twitter before they have given it a chance. If you start with the expectation that it is a simple tool, you will quickly become frustrated, perhaps fatally so. Start slowly, don’t expect it to be straightforward, read a good guide (I like The Tao Of Twitter).

And take deep breaths.

If you liked this article please share it on Twitter – click anywhere in the box below:

Why Is Twitter So Complicated? #ContentMarketing for mature #professionals

Click To Tweet

Thank you so much!

 

photo credit: id-iom via photopin

 

 

 


Connect With Me

In The News

"Lawyer and plain-English expert Geoffrey Winn wants to set you free to make the legal and financial decisions that will help you take control of your life."

the-sydney-morning-herald

 

"Practice Management: How to Get To The Top" by Geoffrey Winn               

Law Institute of Victoria Journal May 2014  

 LIJ

 

Opt In Image
Download My FREE 230 Page Step-By-Step Guide To:
  • Learn straightforward strategies to quickly and effectively write website content for clients.
  • Create high impact website content to gain new clients.
  • Write website content that is discovered and shared.

A clear, actionable Plain English Guide – written by a professional for fellow professionals.

For lawyers, accountants and all retirement, insurance and finance professionals.

 

I will never use your personal information for spam.

Bulletproof Your Life

"I wholeheartedly recommend this book by Geoffrey Winn that actually makes the law interesting and understandable.”  Derryn Hinch 3AW

“This book will help you avoid nasty financial surprises.”  The Age

“Geoffrey Winn wants to help you take control of your life.” InvestSmart

“This is a book every family should read now rather than later.” Sydney Morning Herald