Marketing Without The Marketing

A recent article in the New York Times showcased some high-profile influencers and celebrities using Instagram for blogging. It begs the question: With people connecting on mega-platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter - is blogging still worth it? Could Instagram ever replace blogging? The post Using Instagram for Blogging appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

What happens when a visitor arrives at your site? Do you have a pathway set up to guide them from that first visit through dozens of points of contact until they become a customer? If this isn't all set up in advance - Web, blog, social, email, and online store - there's little point in getting traffic to your site. The post Creating a Pathway to Purchase: Web Strategy 201 appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

Google Plus is shutting down on April 2, 2019. Here's a quick overview of how (and why) to download all your data before it disappears forever. The post Google Plus Is Shutting Down: What You Need to Know appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

We are obsessed with getting traffic to our websites. I want to challenge that concept, because let's face it - random traffic doesn't do that much for you. Web Strategy 201 is getting beyond just "traffic" as a goal and making your site much more active in the sales process. The post Beyond Getting Traffic: Web Strategy 201 appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

Competition on the Web is tough. You can't just hang your shingle and expect people to show up. A basic website isn't good enough anymore - it needs to function as a PATHWAY for prospective customers. Here's how to make your website carry more of the sales load for you. The post More Than Just a Showroom: Web Strategy 201 appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

Have you noticed that some of the basic strategies behind your website, blog, social, and email marketing have started to lose some of their effect? That's because content marketing is now mainstream, with everyone relying on the same set of tactics. Time to level up with Content Marketing 201. The post Content Marketing 201: Beyond the Basics appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

The promise of the Internet has been ruined by advertising. There is no article you can read, video you can view, or social feed you can scroll through without being interrupted by some advertiser's desperate attempt to steal your attention. Every time I experience this, I feel like I've been Rickrolled. The post The Internet Is One Big Rickroll Now appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

People don't mean to diminish your work, but that's exactly what they are doing when they use this one insidious little word. It undervalues your expertise and experience by making it sound simple - as a way to sell you on doing something, paying you less than you're worth, or not paying you at all. The post The One Word That Diminishes Your Work appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

A solid marketing plan has three stages, depending on the growth cycle of the business. In the season finale of Marketing Without the Marketing, I take a look back at the past year and how this has influenced my most recent projects. The post Build, Connect, Optimize: The Three Stages of Good Marketing appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

SEO always starts with a simple query. But it doesn't end when the user finds your site. For SEO to be truly effective, we need to set up a pathway to serve the user more than once so we can build trust over time. And of course, this needs to be set up and ready to go before the first visit. The post SEO and the User Pathway appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

Yes, keywords are important to SEO. But when you boil it down, SEO is about providing relevant, useful content to your human users. Google is able to measure what happens once the user gets to your site. Is it a good experience, or are there things you could be doing better in serving your users? The post SEO Is More Than Keywords appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

Google's Web crawlers are assessing your website with every interaction. Are people getting what they need from your site? It turns out that when it comes to SEO, what's good for humans is good for robots. Let's look at some of the biggest factors that affect your ranking and how they are in tune with the human side of marketing. The post SEO: Write for Humans First, Robots Second appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

What is Google looking for in your content? While they are famously secretive about their search algorithms, Google reveals important clues with each major update. Let's take a look at the key search factors and how to apply them to your SEO strategy. The post SEO: Understanding the Google Algorithm appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

People are at the heart of your SEO efforts. So let's look past the keywords, page rank, and site traffic for a second and focus on the real point of SEO - connecting with your potential customers. SEO is about building the apparatus to find the people who are already out there asking for your help - and the pathway to deliver that help. The post SEO Is About Serving People (not Google) appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

SEO helps you tackle one of the most difficult parts of any business - finding new potential customers. What's more is that Google will help you do this for free. Episode 135 is an overview of why it's worth the effort to learn even just a little bit of SEO so you can take advantage of its marketing power. The post SEO Is a Key Part of Any Marketing Strategy appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

Teaching is how we form a connection with a future customer. SEO is simply a signal that someone wants to learn - with a distinct data "signature" that offers clues about what they want to know. From there, it's up to us to use that data to put ourselves in the best position to answer that question. Episode 134 is an overview of how to do that. The post What Is SEO and How to Unlock Its Power appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

SEO is one of the most important factors in any marketing strategy, so it's worth the effort to learn the basics. It doesn't have to be complicated, and anyone can learn it. Episode 133 is an introduction to my approach to SEO, and the start of a new series to teach you all the nuances of a good, sound SEO strategy. The post SEO: A Different Approach appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

The new season kicks off with a reset to zero! Let's look at how creativity and business go together, and how you can rethink your own approach to your current project, job, or business. The post The Power of Zero appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

The challenges you face in starting a business are different than any other thing you'll do in your career. Episode 131 is a summary of my 10-part series about the early days of my small business - my strategies, successes, and mistakes - so that you have somewhat of a roadmap in your own journey. The post Charting Your Own Path appeared first on Control Mouse Media.

If your business involves teaching or training, then you are in a good position to create "knowledge products" out of your expertise. Whether you sell these "outputs" or use them for customer acquisition, a little planning up front can help you work towards something bigger in your content strategy. The post Productizing Your Knowledge appeared first on Control Mouse Media.