Welcome to another edition of Sites Weekly.
In this week’s edition, you will find links to articles about the following:
- Content. Why great content alone isn’t enough to build an audience
- Design. The science of visual marketing
- Technology. A beginner’s guide to live streaming
- Strategy. 6 important marketing challenges that are solved by influencer content
- Bonus. How Laura Roeder raised $300k in 30 days … and why she went to the dark side after being a hardcore bootstrapper)
But first …
Last week on Site Success
If you’ve been following along with our series on Site Success, then you’ve done a lot of work to get to the point we reached last week. It’s finally here!
You’re about ready to do what you, presumably, are launching a website to do: publish content so that you can build a relationship with an audience.
But before you hit publish on that first piece of content, here are three important questions to consider.
Listen: [50] 3Q Before You Publish Your First Piece of Content
And now, on to this week’s links …
Content: Why great content alone isn’t enough to build an audience
This article features Sonia Simone using the phrase “violently agree.” What more do you need to know to be excited to click the link? 🙂
Seriously though, this post does a nice job of providing realistic and practical advice.
The question is: How do you get great content in front of the right eyeballs who will appreciate it and take action?
Find out what the pros do here.
Design: The science of visual marketing
This post serves as a great reminder — especially if you, like me, can easily get seduced into the fallacy that all you have to do is create the right words on a page and visitors will flock to your site, stay there and read, and then take action.
Did you know that visuals with color can affect people’s willingness to read a piece of content by as much as 80%? Learn many more interesting stats like that with this *ahem* colorful infographic.
Two of the most important decisions you will make about your WordPress website are your theme and your hosting. Wouldn’t it be great if they worked together to make your website more powerful?
Now they can.
Discover why over 213,675 website owners trust StudioPress.
Technology: A beginner’s guide to live streaming
Live streaming is all the rage these days … and for good reason.
As this article notes, citing LiveStream.com (so, umm, beware of potential bias), “80% of users would rather watch a live video than read a blog from a brand. With 82% preferring live video to social posts.”
Even if those numbers are inflated, it would be foolish to doubt the impact of live streaming when it comes to grabbing attention and building authority on social media.
I’ve learned the power of live streaming firsthand as we have built our audience over at The Assembly Call. Our audience growth, and the depth of our relationship with our audience, accelerated when we started broadcasting live video.
We’re taking the next step soon, as we will be broadcasting simultaneously to YouTube, Facebook Live, and Periscope. (It took me a long time to figure out the best way to do this. If you’re interested in knowing how, send me an email. At some point I’ll write up a tutorial.)
Anyway, if you’ve been thinking about live streaming but don’t know where to start, give this article a read. Heck, even if you’re a grizzled live streaming veteran, give it a read. I learned about a new site I haven’t been streaming to that may end up being an interesting way for us to reach a younger audience.
Strategy: 6 important marketing challenges that are solved by influencer content
If you’re running a website, chances are that you are doing content marketing of some type. You may even be buying ads to drive targeted traffic to specific landing pages. In which case you’re running into the same challenges everyone else is.
Challenges like …
- Ad blockers
- Information overload for your audience
- Lack of trust (especially if you’re still early in your journey)
- Organic social not providing the boost it once did
And others.
Well, how do you overcome those challenges? One way is by employing a smart, well-thought-out influencer marketing program. And in this post by Lee Odden, you’ll learn how influencer marketing will help you overcome these challenges, and a few more.
Bonus article: How Laura Roeder raised $300k in 30 days … and why she went to the dark side after being a hardcore bootstrapper)
Laura Roeder, the founder of MeetEdgar, has an impressive list of accomplishments. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her, seeing her speak, and interviewing her on a podcast, and it doesn’t take long to figure out why she’s been successful.
This post that she wrote in February is a compelling story, and it offers several lessons that all of us can learn from … even if we’re never in the position of needing to raise half a million dollars in a few weeks.
My main takeaways:
- The importance of making a commitment about your budget … and then not budging from it.
- Don’t put all your eggs into one basket.
- Never let the passion seep out of your pitch when you’re trying to transfer your enthusiasm to someone else (i.e., sell).
So …
Which of the ideas in these posts will you put to good use immediately?
I’ll be back with a new edition next week.
Keep building.