Category: Business

Creating engaging, high-quality content is one of the most important things you can do as an instructor or course creator.

Content marketing is a buzzword that people are constantly talking about. It seems like every educator has to have at least some form of it in their curriculum, but very few take the time to invest in creating great content.

You should be investing in content creation at least half an hour per day — if not more – to ensure your courses and lessons are seen by the right people. This article will talk about how to start creating content with no extra resources needed!

Course creators are often overlooked when it comes to educational technology. Most instructors know that they need to create learning materials, but little else.

They may put effort into designing their syllables and lesson plans, but very rarely do they spend time developing their skills as educators through creative writing, teaching, and media production.

There are many ways to begin producing your content. You do not have to write a book nor does this article tell you to, but there are several mediums you can use to develop your creativity.

Definition of content marketing

Content marketing is using various tools to create, distribute, and promote useful, valuable information or services that influence or inspire others.

Content marketers aim to make their messages clear and interesting, like what Oprah does with her talk show. They also use social media to spread the word about their products and offerings.

But they’re not just limited to those two activities. Many companies now do content marketing beyond promoting a product or service by writing articles or creating videos that discuss related topics.

This type of content can be done freelance or as part of a job. It doesn’t need to be sponsored by the company being advertised.

Why should you do content marketing?

Creating engaging, well-written content is a great way to get exposure for your business or course. People will share your posts on social media sites, talk about them with friends, and visit your website because they want more content like what you’ve got.

Content marketers also use keywords in their writing to influence search engines to list their posts as “relevant” material. This helps your business show up in searches where it wouldn’t otherwise!

It doesn’t stop there though. Having rich, interesting content creates opportunities to connect with other people. You can gain followers on social media sites, find new mentors, and grow your community.

In addition to all that, creating and sharing quality content brings you additional income. You can charge businesses for services or products related to yours, or sell your stuff through the marketplace settings on most major social networks.

There are many ways to make money from content, so don’t hesitate to try something new.

What is the best content marketing strategy?

Creating engaging, interesting, and educational content is one of the most important things you can do to achieve success with your online course or business.

You will be investing in this content consistently, so it makes sense to invest in the best possible way.

The better your content is, the more likely people will want to buy from you. You’ll also spend less money producing yours if you learn how to improve your content efficiency.

It’s easy to start thinking that creating great content is an expensive luxury, but it doesn’t have to be!

There are several low-cost (or even free) ways to create great content every day. I recommend trying out some of these strategies before spending any money beyond what you already are.

What are we talking about?

We’re talking about writing quality articles, posting them on social media sites, developing rich snippets and descriptive tags, taking advantage of free images and videos, and much more. All of these things can be done by almost anyone with a little bit of effort.

In this article, I’m going to talk about five types of content that can help you generate new leads and sales for your online courses or other businesses.

#1: Product-focused content

A lot of people forget that content isn’t just something fun to share – it’s a tool to make more money.

How can I start content marketing?

Starting any sort of business includes knowing what steps you need to take. For you, as an instructor, this means creating your course or teaching people how to teach courses.

Running a classroom is a lot of work, which is why most teachers are only paid part-time. Plus there are all the other costs involved with running a class like buying supplies and organizing event spaces.

Content creators make very little money because they’re investing in themselves by developing their skills and educating others. This is important since we spend our lives studying things and sharing knowledge and thoughts, so it is worth it!

There are many ways to begin writing about education and training. You could write blogs, vlogs, ebooks, pamphlets, YouTube videos — anything that contains educational information and is easy to read.

Your potential audience will form opinions based on what you say, so be sure to do your research and use correct grammar and vocabulary.

Tips for content marketing

As we mentioned, creating engaging, interesting, and educational content is an integral part of any successful online course launch.

Running your digital classroom comes with its own set of challenges, but one thing that most beginner instructors run into is a lack of engagement.

You may have already done some form of content marketing before (perhaps for business or personal purposes), so this article will focus on more specific tips to help you create your unique brand of content that people are willing to read and learn from.

We’ll also look at how effective these strategies can be in generating income through advertising and sponsorships.

Creating great content

Writing is one of the most universal languages in the world. No matter what language you speak, everyone understands written words!

Writing is an excellent way to develop your writing skills and improve your communication style. Plus, it’s free to try out (you don’t need a large income to reap the benefits of writing).

You can give it a try by picking someone or something that isn’t too popular and reading through their material to see how they write. Or you can take some time to brainstorm different ideas and then choose the best one.

Whatever you do, just be sure to use appropriate grammar and vocabulary. You want to make sure your readers understand everything clearly!

When it comes down to it, people are mostly looking to learn more about things so they can better themselves or advance in life. They look at the books and materials available and think “If only I knew this, I would be doing well” or “This seems helpful, I should have known these things already.”

That’s why teaching others who are not quite there yet will help them get closer to that goal- you can both teach each other and yourself.

Content marketing is a very effective tool in helping individuals achieve that goal because it does two important things: It raises awareness around a product or service, and it creates new opportunities for action as consumers find products related to the given content compelling.

Distinguishing yourself in the market

As we have seen, content marketing is an effective way to connect with your audience and grow your business, but it comes down to you being true to who you are as an entrepreneur and speaker.

If you’re not sure what your message is or how to convey that message, then investing time into creating content that fits who you are will be wasted. You need to know this before you begin!

Your brand is more than just your voice and style – it’s about knowing who you are and communicating those qualities to others.

As you launch your course (or even already have!), make a note of the areas where your branding seems lacking or could use some improvement.

Developing your brand

As we mentioned before, creating an online classroom is like having a website or business! You will need to have a unique identity that sets you apart from others.

Your style, tone, and the topic matter should be consistent across all platforms – you’ll want to make sure people know who you are and what you offer.

You can also design your courses using similar colors, fonts, and styles to convey your message and showcase your expertise.

By developing your educational branding, you’ll give students more insight into you as a person and professional. This will help them connect with you and learn something new.

Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to develop your educational brand. By sharing helpful resources and lessons, you’ll let other educators know you’re engaged in your field and supportive of their career goals.

This will create a sense of community and collaboration. Students will look up to you and may even choose to follow you on social media or visit your course site to see how you organize things.

A content marketing plan is more than just an outline with milestones and tasks to launch your business or career! It is a process that helps you identify what your long-term goals are, strategies to achieve them, and time frames to do so.

A content marketer’s goal is typically to create engaging, high-quality content people are willing to share with others. They may also be looking to generate traffic and leads through their blogs, social media accounts, and advertisements.

Businesses look to content marketers to help promote their products via websites and other channels. This way they don’t have to work very hard to get exposure for themselves or their company.

Content creators earn credibility and rewards by putting effort into creating helpful resources. These rewards include improved self-confidence, increased income, and personal fulfillment.

Creating a content marketing plan helps you set your goals

Even if you have no money to invest in content marketing, creating a content creation plan is still helpful. Not only does it help you determine what your goal should be, but it also helps you set short-term and long-term goals!

The first step in creating your content marketing strategy is defining your overall goal. This can be anything from increasing website traffic to establishing yourself as an expert or leader in your field.

After your goal has been defined, you will want to figure out how to achieve that goal. This includes determining the mediums through which you will promote your business, finding people who are already working towards your goal and developing a process or system to ensure success.

Creating a content marketing plan determines your strategy

Developing a content marketing plan is an important first step to ensuring that you are investing in effective channels for promoting your courses. Before diving into what strategies you should use, it is crucial to determine how you want to promote your course.

Your content marketing plan will be more successful if you know where your audience is already spending time online. By creating content targeted at those audiences, you can boost engagement and traffic to your site or channel.

You can also find yourself more successful by staying within the norms – but don’t stick to tradition! Find out whether people are talking about products like yours and see what works for others just as hard as you prepare to put in the effort to succeed.

By using these tools to assess your current state and create a plan to improve it, you will reap the benefits of content promotion.

Connects your marketing efforts to your overall business strategy

Content marketer does more than just create content; they are also responsible for setting up other important systems in your organization. These include creating an online presence, finding new ways to communicate with people about your product or service, and developing strategies to promote these activities.

Content marketers usually work under a general manager who has other responsibilities. This makes it hard to allocate enough time to properly plan and execute their project agenda.

That’s why it is so important to have a content marketing plan (CMP). By organizing and sequencing all of your projects according to milestones and deadlines, you will give yourself more freedom to focus on the next phase of your career development.

You can use your CMP as a way to motivate yourself to keep producing valuable content while also keeping track of what else needs to be done to spread your message.

Creating a content marketing plan boosts your brand

Being a teacher means being a professional, which typically requires you to put in lots of effort to improve yourself. Productivity is an always-evolving thing, so why not make the most out of yours?

Running a teaching business includes marketing. You will need to spend time developing your social media presence, creating engaging content, responding to comments and messages, and more. All of these things take up time, but only if you are doing them!

If you have a job that does not give you enough permission to do those things, then it may be time to look for another one.

Encourages visitors to take action

After all, who wants to spend their time looking for something before they can enjoy it? We’ve already discussed how creating content is one of the most effective ways to increase your course sales, but what about when you want to use that content?

Content marketing isn’t just about producing lots of content – it’s also about getting people to read it. You need to be sure that anyone willing to soak in your knowledge has enough preparation materials to understand what you’re teaching.

That’s where a content marketing plan comes into play. A content marketing plan (CMP) is like a manual or primer for your lesson plans. It goes beyond telling people why your lessons are important and helpful – it encourages them to do so by offering proof points and examples.

It gives them reasons to invest in your courses by laying out benefits such as direct rewards or profits, personal growth, improved self-confidence, and more.

Reduces marketing mistakes

Even with all the tips and tricks in the world, people still make costly errors when trying to market their courses.

There’s no perfect way to market your course, but having a content marketing plan can help you avoid some common pitfalls.

A good content marketing plan includes defining your audience, what products or services you want to sell them, and a clear process for creating your content. It also means using appropriate tools and resources to promote yourself and your product.

The more clearly you define these things, the less likely you are to make expensive mistakes. This article will talk about some benefits of developing a content marketing plan.

Enhances customer experience

Being able to easily access your product is one of the biggest benefits of offering products via online courses. By creating a strong content marketing strategy, you can make it easy for customers to find what you offer and get quality information about that offer.

By including rich media such as videos or interactive features, they can learn more about your business and yourself!

You will also want to include clear calls to action at the end of each article or series so that people can either choose to join your mailing list or buy something from your site.

This is especially important if you are trying to increase audience size – most people start by buying a smaller package before investing in larger ones, so having good CTAs can help mitigate this risk.

Interactivity is another way to enhance the customer experience. If there’s an element of your content that encourages readers to do something (like share a link), then those users will leave with improved relationships with you and your brand.

Boosts interest to purchase

Developing a content marketing plan is not hard, but it does take the time that you may not have at times. When you are ready to start creating your campaign, make sure to do so with the right timing.

There’s no wrong day to begin planning yours, but we recommend starting in the spring or early summer before courses school-year.

You want to be sure everything is lined up before you launch, especially since most students will be out next fall/spring semester!

Your goal should be to create enough content to keep people engaged and coming back to see what you have to offer them. You can then use these resources as targeted advertisements or direct sales strategies.

Interchangeable components

The main component of your content marketing plan is going to differ from person to person. It should however contain some key parts that could easily be replaced by something else.

These components include the topic, bullet point, body, conclusion, and supporting material and images.

Your topic can change every month, even weekly depending on how much new content you produce. Because they are interchangeable, you don’t need to worry about running out of ideas.

Recent developments in digital marketing include strategies to build your business through word-of-mouth marketing by leveraging customer reviews and testimonials. This is referred to as “viral” or “ratchet effect” marketing because it rewards those who spread good information about you, which then further boosts your reputation.

By adding value to the world, you inspire more people to do the same. You get rewarded by spending less effort on advertising and getting the same results!

A strong referral base is an invaluable asset to any company. When someone else has success using your products and services, this creates a mutually beneficial buzz.

Fortunately, there are many ways you can use customer reviews and testimonials to promote your business. In this article, we will discuss some easy ways to add review and testimony materials to your online store.

Sample customer reviews and testimonials

Recent developments in marketing include strategies to directly appeal to your audience’s senses, but what about when you want to talk about something more than your product or service? What if you wanted to tell your readers how good you are as a company so they might feel the same way?

That’s where talking about others comes into play. It is referred to as word-of-mouth marketing or sales promotion via references that your competitors don’t know about. This is particularly effective in generating buzz since people love talking about success stories and failures, respectively.

It also helps create credibility for your business because it shows that you have direct contact with other individuals who have an opinion of you. 94% of consumers look at products before buying them from a source that they trust.

So why not use those sources to promote yours? Here are some ways to do this without being too promotional.

Ways to get customer reviews and testimonials

It’s great to offer your customers solid products, but it’s even better when they spread positive comments about you. When their experiences outweigh the negative ones, that creates an environment where people are willing to interact with your business by buying what you sell and providing feedback.

By adding these types of advertisements into your marketing strategy, you’ll be helping promote your company and product while generating valuable insights.

There are several ways to ask your current customers if they would kindly write up a review or give you a testimonial. You can do this via social media, email, phone, or in person!

It is very common to hear stories of how small businesses transformed into bigger companies due to online reviews. People who have been through similar situations will often share their expertise so others can learn from their mistakes and success.

Your potential clients and customers may feel more inclined to leave a review if they enjoy using your services. By asking about their experience, you can tap into their candid thoughts and opinions.

Create a website

A well-optimized website is an integral part of any successful business venture. Your site will be the face that users see when they search for your products or services online, so you want to make it look good!

Your web presence includes the name of the company, the types of products and services you offer, contact information, and the most important thing – a clear call to action (CTA).

The CTA can be to buy, learn more about your product, speak with a consultant, etc., but usually something like “contact us” or “learn how to use our tool effectively” is best because it gives the reader a sense of urgency to do something.

It also helps the reader know if their options are final as the CTAs often include a deadline or even times when there is nothing available. This creates a sense of desperation which may motivate people to act.

Offering a reward

As mentioned earlier, offering a reward is one of the most effective ways to gain reviews for your business! What kind of rewards you can offer will vary depending on what type of business you are trying to get reviews from and how large an audience they have.

For example, if your service offers free cleaning, you could ask potential customers to leave a review about their experience with your business. Make sure to add ‘review’ in the title or else it may seem like a promotion for another company.

Alternatively, you could ask them to write a short article or do some research online for your product or service.

Offering a product trial

A lot of business owners make the mistake of not offering a trial period for their new products or services. This is very common when you are investing in a service that you hope people will use, but they do not get the chance to try it out until you purchase it!

By offering a trial period, you allow your customers to explore the benefits of the service before buying it. By doing this, you increase customer loyalty as well as potential purchases.

Some examples of trial services include:

Newly released apps

Services such as Netflix allow users to test out one month of free access. This gives them time to check out the features and see if there are any that appeal to them.

Probationary periods can also be used by employers to see how workers perform their jobs during a few days or weeks.

Ask your customers for reviews and testimonials

As mentioned before, reviewing your service or product is an easy way to gain exposure for your business. But how do you ask about review opportunities?

Most companies have a form or questionnaire that asks if there are any comments or complaints and if they wanted to be contacted for such a comment or complaint. By asking directly and honestly, you allow your audience to share their experiences!

Some brands make it difficult to write down negative feedback so it may not come across as true and honest. Make sure yours doesn’t look fake by having any ulterior motives.

By adding this element to your marketing strategy, you increase your chances of getting positive reviews.

Encourage reviews and testimonials

As mentioned earlier, you will want to encourage your potential customers to review you online. But what if they don’t? You can’t make them!

You need to realize that most people are not going to leave a review unless asked or encouraged to do so. This is why it is important to have a solid marketing strategy for asking for reviews.

You could send out an email message asking about their experience with your business and offering a discount in return for a review. Or you could just ask “What kind of things did this company do well that made you come back?”

This way you are more open-ended which helps someone who doesn’t feel like writing a full-length review to say ‘Well I read about X thing in the news and how great Y company was, so I thought I would give them a try.’

Interchangeably, you could also ask ‘what didn’t work about our service?’ By getting some feedback, even if it’s only a sentence or two, you can fix any issues and improve upon past performance.

Respond to reviews and testimonials

Recent developments in marketing include using customer feedback to promote your business. These days, instead of sending out direct mail or advertising materials, you can gather information about your competition, read their reviews, and respond with an introduction letter or statement along with your review or testimonial.

This is called word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. By adding value through responses to other people’s conversations, you increase your chances of getting repeat business.

Does it also raise your game by bringing up important questions like how well did these others do? What could I learn from them? How might this work for me?

You get back what you give – so make sure you are looking after yourself by offering quality replies that connect and inspire. This will create positive chatter which will amplify your message and help you reach more potential customers.

A/b testing is one of the most important strategies to use when it comes to optimizing your landing pages and applications. It’s an essential part of any successful marketing campaign, whether you are working on your site or helping someone else do the same thing.

A/b tests occur when different versions of a product or landing page are tested against each other to see which one performs the best. For example, let’s say your company was planning on launching a new mobile app this fall. You could test two different versions of the app: one with no special features and another that featured limited functionality.

You would put both apps onto either a phone or a tablet and then compare how many people downloaded each version through pure chance. Or perhaps there was a reward for downloading the more feature-filled app, so you could test whether people were more likely to download the second app if they received something for it.

Either way, this type of experiment isn’t very scientific, but it can tell you a lot about what works and doesn’t work for your audience — and thus, your business. More importantly, it can help you determine whether or not adding additional features to your current offering is worth it.

A/b testing has become such a common practice that companies now have whole departments dedicated to doing it.

Why test your landing pages?

A few years ago, if you wanted to run A/B tests, you needed to have a website with two domains, one for each version of the page.

Now, many tools can help you do this easily and quickly. Tools such as Statping give you free limited access so you can try out different versions of a web page before investing in the better version.

Some paid products offer more advanced features than just A or B testing. These include split testing, conversion tracking, and heat map settings which can all contribute to improving your landing pages.

Split testing is changing how companies approach marketing. With it, you can compare different approaches on a same-site survey. This way, you will know what changes work for your product and what doesn’t.

Conversion tracking allows you to see which parts of your landing page are most effective by analyzing bounce rates, conversions, and times spent on the site. Heat maps show you where users struggle and drop off due to poor usability.

This not only helps you make the site easier to use but also gives you insights into the weaknesses and strengths of the design.

Sample landing page A/B testING

A test is only meaningful if you compare it to one or more controls. For example, testing your top content box against no cover image is not very helpful!

Landing pages are designed to appeal to someone’s desire to perform a specific action — in other words, they aim to influence behavior. As such, many different components make up the landing page design.

One of the most important elements in any successful test is the control group. This can be done by either using another version of the same landing page or an adjacent page that is identical except for the tested element.

A classic way to implement this is by creating a low-value test (test option B) and a high-value test (test option A). By doing this directly after performing test option A, you can determine whether changing the color or texture of the surface affects performance.

Another common component to test is the type of font. Some fonts are considered better than others for engaging with readers, so trying out various styles is a good way to identify which ones work well for you.

What should your landing page test in terms of content?

While not every element on a landing page is optimized to improve engagement, testing certain components can help you determine which ones are.

One such component is the body of text that accompanies the call-to-action (CTA) button. When optimizing landing pages for the best conversions, there’s an easy way to switch up the CTA to see what works better.

That way is A/B testing. By altering the words or pictures used to make the call to action more persuasive, you can test different versions to see which one converts the most effectively.

You could swap out the bolded headline with another set of bolded keywords or even just “Learn More!”

You could replace the picture of the product with something else like an example of the product being used successfully or create a sense of urgency by offering a limited-time deal.

What should your landing page test in terms of design?

As we mentioned before, testing different versions of a website is an excellent way to determine which features are integral to how well you’re performing with a given site.

Landing pages are no exception- there’s nothing wrong with having multiple variations that you can test out.

That being said, some things seem to consistently improve performance across the board for most websites, so why not use those as components in your landing page tests?

The first such element that seems to make a difference is the color scheme. Changing the background colors and typography will change the overall feel of a webpage, but what about the hue itself?

Are red backgrounds more appealing than green or blue ones? Perhaps bolder fonts work better than thinner ones. It may also be helpful to consider shades of the same color, like using a white background instead of plain old gray.

How do I start A/B testing on my landing pages?

A simple way to test your current landing page is to use something called a quick preview. You can create a quick preview by using another website’s template or creating your own using a free web design tool such as Fubiliy, Google Chrome, or Adobe XD.

By doing this, you will be able to see how your new landing page looks like-style and if it contains essential components such as content, calls to action (CTAs), etc.

Several good tools can help you perform ABA tests more efficiently, such as Userlytics, Mixpanel, CrazyEgg, and Analytics. It is best to pick one that fits your business and budget well.

Userlytics has a free plan that allows up to 20k monthly visits, while Mixpanel and Analytics both cost around $10 per month.

How often should run A/B testing?

A very common question that people ask is how many tests you should do per week or month. There are two main reasons why it’s important to have more tests than just once a month.

The first is because testing more frequently allows you to see changes over time. This can help identify whether there is always one element or feature of your landing page that is hurting conversions, or if there is a particular component that works and could be scaled up.

By doing this every few weeks, you will be able to determine whether adding or removing a feature has an effect, and if so, what impact it has.

This also allows you to find out if your test made any significant differences to conversion rates, which is great news as you re-evaluate what changes you want to make next time.

The second reason to run more tests is so that you get greater statistical significance. As mentioned before, running only one test at a time means that we cannot tell whether all of the other changes are influenced after the experiment is done. By running several studies back to back, however, we can calculate more accurate results.

That being said, the number of tests that you should perform depends on both the length of time that you want the findings to remain valid and the amount of traffic that your landing page receives. If your business fluctuates substantially, then you will need to spend less time confirming your hypotheses.

What are the different types of tests?

A test that you perform is called a control test. With a control test, you use one version of your landing page as the baseline or control group. Then, you will compare it to another version of the same page to see if there are any significant changes.

If there are changes, then they are typically for the better. This means that the new page version is more effective than the old one!

There are three main reasons why changing a part of your landing page works so well. First, people love simplicity. Create a simple landing page and see how many conversions you get!

Second, very few users pay close attention to all the features of a product before deciding whether or not to buy it. By stripping down the landing page, you take away some of the important factors that can influence conversion.

Third, sometimes poor quality content is what causes people to hesitate before buying. If you remove some of the fluff from the page, you hone in on the message more clearly, which may help motivate action.

However, do not make the landing page too bare. You must include enough information for people to understand who the offer is intended for and what benefits it has.

What are the different settings for each test?

Running A/B tests does not mean just creating two identical pages! That would be a simple test. For example, if your main landing page is for an app then testing whether or to change the font size of the app logo will run a test.

More advanced A/B testing strategies use different settings that affect how the test runs. These include:

Variables such as content, layout, format, tone, etc.

Subjects or messages under which the test can run

Stimuli (such as logos or colors) that can be added or removed from the test

Timing variables such as speed of load, scroll down, etc.

It is important to know what settings you have before running an experiment because you want to make sure the results remain consistent and accurate!

There are many free tools available that allow you to create A/B experiments at no cost beyond the initial setup. Many of these give you tips and tricks along the way so that you’re able to get the most out of the experiment while supporting their product.