Data is an important element of content marketing. Storytelling, too, gets readers' attention and has been shown to be instrumental in prospects and customers forming strong connections to brands. But using data and storytelling helps produce some of the strongest content there is to be shared, says Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré in her latest YouMoz article, Here’s How to Combine Storytelling and Data to Produce Persuasive Content.

What are your thoughts? Think data and storytelling work best separately? Read the post are share your thoughts below.

RS

Hi Gary,

I'm not entirely clear about your question, but it's best that you create content you know will move the needle for your brand and share it with sites you have a relationship with and that can help your business meet its content marketing goals. It's unlikely the websites you mention meet those qualifications, so I'd say start by creating a list of websites that you know can help your brand that publish similar content. Then reach out to the sites about sharing content on their website.

The key, however, is to be very specific about your goals with regard to the relationship: Traffic? Conversions? etc.

RS

I'm a huge believer that you CAN find a great writer on these low-cost sites. But I'm an even stronger believer that you'll (a) have to be very lucky (b) spend a lot of time weeding out low-quality providers and (c) be better off hiring an in-house writer/team to handle the duties.

Based on my experience, however, most agencies creating in-house writing teams fall short in one of two areas:

1. Even though they have the staff to create worthwhile, meaningful content, they refuse to commit to quality, focusing more on speed than precision, delivering anemic posts that clients soon see through. When the clients bolt, the writing team is disbanded. The problem was neither the writing team nor the clients. The agency simply lacked the heart to do what was right.
2. They create a team of ONLY inexperienced writers, which means the quality of the content is likely to wane over time, and no one is likely to notice until it's too late.

RS

That's exactly where they have the most value to me as a prospect. I want to ascertain as much information as possible before I make a commitment to click a link and visit a webpage.

RS

Thank you for sharing, Gyi.

RS

We've heard a lot about Rich Snippets in the last few years, especially with regard to how they can help move the needle for ecomm brands.

In the latest YouMoz post - 5 Essential E-Commerce Rich Snippets for Your Store  - Aleh Barysevich provides some easy-to-follow tips he's used to help brands find success using Rich Snippets.

What about you? Have you found Rich Snippets to be all they're cracked up to be?

 

Matt,

I totally agree.

In my former life (er, job) I wrote thousands of ecomm product description for some of the world's biggest brands. It was a painful process at first, in large part because EVERY company felt that more was always better. Until I was able to show them that it wasn't.

At first, each description was bloated with text.

Then, I imposed a strict word (50) and character count (220) for descriptions, and conversions improved dramatically. Also, customer service calls and complaints diminished considerably.

Here's why: Customers visiting a specific product are more likely to know something about it, so they don't need a bunch of details. They ask friends and family members, read reviews, etc., so they're educated to a degree when they visit the page. Also, if they do have questions, it's better to have a Q&A-style setup on the page, similar to what REI does.

For folks who aren't as educated but who have landed on the page for a specific product, the diminutive descriptions means they have enough info to whet their appetites (i.e., to read reviews and conduct research) but not so much to confuse them.

RS

Hi Jubaer,

One way to look at it is each (worthwhile) link is an implied endorsement of your site. Viewed in this light, multiple links from the same site, assuming it is a respected domain, would be incredible valuable, but not simply for ranking.

Remember, trust is a huge factor that can and does impact your rank in SERPs: If people come to know and view your brand as authoritative and valuable on a topic, they're more likely to click on your URL, even if you're not in the top handful of results.

One small way to gain such trust is by creating content that is worthy of being linked to by respected domains. The more people see you being linked to and mentioned, the more top of mind awareness you're creating and the greater the likelihood that you'll start seeing that recognition at the SERP level.

I link to say that value of a link extends well beyond the link itself.

RS

First, I apologize for responding so tardily. I would like to congratulate you for taking the time to craft a post for YouMoz. Also, it's commendable that you're seeking feedback at this stage. Most authors, myself included, simply want it off their plates at this stage.

While, yes, as Dirk said, it can take time for us to get to your post, that's owing in large part to (a) the initial quality of the post (posts that are more ready to be posted do get moved ahead of the line as we review, re-review and include copious notes in the articles to authors for revision) and (b) how effective authors are at making the needed changes in a timely fashion.

Our goal with YouMoz is to post the best content possible. That can mean a lot of back and forth between author and editor.

Feel free to email us at editor@moz.com

RS

Hello there,

In the latest YouMoz post, "Case Study: How We Gained More than 100 Links for a Travel Website via Content Marketing," Tom McLoughlin recommends an idea for content creation that is sure to elicit strong opinions from all sides:

"Websites like Fiverr and Upwork are fantastic resources for finding freelancers who do great work. It simply takes a bit of initial time to sift through and separate the wheat from the chaff. Once that’s done, give the freelancers a detailed brief and tell them exactly what you want."

What's your opinion? Have you had good experiences using these sites? If so, what have you found as the keys to making the working relationship a success.

The dating of content has gotten a lot of play of late, in large part because of a post that appeared on the Moz blog: https://moz.com/blog/case-study-can-you-fake-blog-post-freshness-

Despite the dissenting opinions on all sides, this much appears to find consensus: Update your content and the content's date when you have new, valuable information available to provide, and only then.

Otherwise the results are likely to be short-term and not very worthwhile.

RS

Matt,

For me, it's a three-pronged approach: The content ideation, creation and amplification process are all very important parts of the content marketing process. Without one, the other two are not very effective.

• For Ideation, I like to focus on what it is I'm trying to accomplish (e.g,., the goal), then marry that with the needs of the audience.
• For content creation, the goal is to discern the best medium by which to share and create the content, based on the goal of the content and the ideas being expressed. For example, a post that's designed to build a conversation around an idea I hope to test might include light text and heavy graphics and be shared on Google Plus and Instagram, in addition to my blog.
• The amplification part of the process is the most important, and for good reason: Content that isn't amplified is unlikely to get engagement, shares or links. That's why I like to say, "If it's not important enough to drive engagement, don't create it." Links are anything but a given, but shares and engagement are a clear signal that your work is finding and touching the right audience.

Where I veer off course a bit - and recommend that others do the same - is in thinking about amplification first, which is an idea Rand has shared for years.

Instead of thinking (ideation) about what content I should create (creation), I focus on who'll promote the content first. That way, I'm creating content that's more likely to be shared and engaged with. I'm convinced others could/would find success by doing the same thing.

RS

Hi Allie,

Great to see that you're proactively working to use this content in a way that best benefits the brand while reaping the rewards of organic search. One thing I'd add, however, is it's more important that you create as positive a user experience as possible as well, and that means ensuring that the benefits of the information are commensurate with the effort prospects will go through to access it.

To answer your questions...

1. You'll have to do some experimenting here, but you want them to invest enough time that they feel compelled to keep going. You also need to make the case that what they've read only scratches the surface of what they'll learn. To that end, I'd say one or two paragraphs should suffice. However, that means (a) that the headlines are catchy and descriptive and (b) the graphs of text pique their interest to a significant degree.
2. From experiments I've done with gated content, headlines/titles and compelling nuggets of text work exceedingly well. Also, use A/B testing on the CTA.
3. From a user experience perspective, I'd keep it to a single page. No practical advantage to splitting the content.

Be sure to let us know what you decide. We'd very much enjoy hearing the results of the effort.

Lori,

Thanks for letting us know. About to click the link to learn more about the brand now.

RS

Becky,

Your priorities certainly are in order. For if you don't get the onsite stuff right, (a) the offsite stuff might never come and (b) if it does come would be tough to measure.

Take the time to get the technical and the on-page SEO airtight, then, as time permits, spend time learning as much as you can about your target audience (e.g., who they are, where they congregate, what content they share and engage around, who the influencers are, etc.). Then you can begin creating content knowing that it's hitting the mark for the audience, who will likely be willing to share and, possibly, link to it in the future.

From there, you move up to adding outreach to your repertoire, whereby you create content targeted to getting the attention of influencers, who'll help you share it, which should bring more attention to your site and illuminate what the audience is hungry for and receptive for from your brand.

RS

Dirk,

You are making me chuckle

My apologies if I'm further confusing things. The generic message is created initially/immediately, as we log the post into the system. Everyone gets that message, unless the post is spam or an obvious poor fit.

Every other post is reviewed in-depth, at which point we begin to separate them out based on return to to the author or deny. Whether the post is accepted or denied, however, in nearly all cases, it will need to be returned to the author with questions.

Also, Dirk, don't hesitate to reach out to me - ronell.smith@moz.com - if you'd like to run an idea by me in advance of creating a post. All I ask for is at least a sketch/outline first, not simply a headline, and I can provide feedback.

Hi Dirk,

Your comments are apt. However, I respectfully disagree with the assertion that the quality of the post has nothing to do with review time.

For example, we do a daily quick pass through the queue and the spreadsheet where the articles are kept, with an eye for any gems that might jump out at us. These "gems" are articles that hit the nail on the head for what we're looking for in a YouMoz post. Those posts go right to the top of the pile.

The posts that need the most work aren't excluded, however. It simply takes more time to go through them and make suggestions, which must then be shared with the author.

Over the last several months, I've done an informal analysis of the review process, in hopes of getting more posts on the blog.

Here's what I've found:

• Roughly 90% of the posts we send back to authors are either never returned to us, or they are returned without any changes being made. This rings true for posts that need only minor elements that only the author can provide. As you might imagine, these posts eat up quite a bit of time.
• Typically, when posts are returned to us with the needed changes, the turnaround time is 3.5 weeks. Often it's months.
• The No. 1 reason posts don't make the cut is the author attempts to do too much in a single post and lacks the details needed to make the post work.

YouMoz belongs to the audience. However, we're not willing to trade quality for quantity.

RS

OK. Sorry for the long-winded, non-sensical answer, then.

The best system I've seen to keep track of such information is to use an Excel spreadsheet. I don't currently have any such documents to share, but I'm certain you can ask around, on Twitter and Facebook, to locate several options that would suit your needs.

Let us know how it turns out.

RS

The key question here, which Josh nailed with his response, isn't simply about SEO. It's about whether or not the audience finds the information useful. That's the best information for ordering your steps.

The more pages - deep, rich (valuable) content is part of the goal - the better, assuming your topics are varied enough to provide needed depth AND retain overall value on the topic.

But, back to the main issue: How is your brand benefitting from this information? It could be in innumerable ways to boost all of your online marketing efforts. For example, based on the questions being asked, you could discern which new products to create, which current products should be updated and which features are likely to be met with the highest approval.

I'd suggest gathering the team and brainstorming around the questions and answers being asked to develop (a) content ideas, (b) ways in which you could better serve existing customers and (c) how the brand could do a better job of attracting customers who might be interested about your products or services.

RS

Hi Lori,

I remember being asked this question two years ago, when I interviewed for a job at a successful digital marketing agency. My answer, then as now, was "I think some processes are too important to automate," especially early on.

My suggestion - one that I've seen worth seamlessly in action - is to have warm bodies in place who can help with much of the heavy lifting, then use automation to help.

• Stay on top of what happening with the site by monitoring Google Analytics
• Monitor the site for problems by using a crawler, such as Moz Analytics or Screaming Frog
• Go heavy on the link analysis with Majestic to discern the type and quality of the links you're acquiring.
• Hire a strong UX/UI person to ensure that site architecture is sound.
• Ensure that there is at least one content strategist on the team who can make sure that process is aligned with practice
• Use the steps above to get good at creating valuable content for your audience.
• Repeat

I know this likely doesn't precisely answer your question, but it's the one I give most often - and with great results.

RS