How to Steal your Audience’s Attention and Beat Your Competition
SME Rand Fishkin
HOT OFF THE PRESS: I just found this beautiful approach to building recognition of your brand, increasing your audience, adding real value to the online conversation & knowledge base, and making it all very easy.
That’s a tall order and might seem like a lot of work – even overwhelming. But it’s not. The most brilliant approaches are often the simplest.
The email newsletter below came from one of my subject matter expert’s (SME’s) newsletter subscription. I subscribe because I know that they are an authority, with reliable & valuable info that helps me stay on top of the latest Best Practices in my industry. That should be among your objectives for your online media/promotion strategies, especially your regular newsletter/blog posts. (Way to go, Rand Fishkin! And thank you so much for sharing.)
In this case, they turned a single blog post into a captivating and valuable email newsletter. And I love it. Here’s why:
Notice that they established the subject line/title to capture my attention. This is the single most important piece of writing in this entire effort. That subject line /title MUST work very hard, or all else is for naught. (For more detailed info on exactly how to do that, see my previous posts on Powerful Headlines and 38 Exciting Examples .)
Winning Newsletter Subject Lines
In my mind, the word “Guide” in the subject line is the attention-getter, because I want comprehensive info that is condensed down to no fluff. I want to get the best and most important info ‘at-a-glance’, without wasting my time in ego-driven dialogue. “Guide’ infers a well-organized resource How-To. BINGO! They got me.
Also, what in the world is a “Human” Guide? Now I’m curious. And Link-Building is one of the very most important elements in Google’s search algorithm. So any Guide that teaches me a new way to build links surely captures my attention. So I click through.
All that may seem like a lot to go through just to post something online, but that’s what it takes now to compete with the unbelievable amount of great content and to get clicked after ranking in Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Return Pages).
See the real blog post online here:
http://www.advancedwebranking.com/blog/human-guide-link-building/
Newsletter Layout – Make it Easy on the Eye
Notice the BIG image and generous use of white space? It is easy on the eye in this cluttered world of communication. It infers that the content itself will also be easy to read. What a relief that would be!
In the body of the email, they pose a question, and entice you to open in order to get the answer. All these integrated elements add up to success. Subtle as they are, they work. No in-your-face one-way push messaging (“We’re so great. You need us.”) None of that.
Calls to Action that get Results
The call-to-action is another subtlety: “Keep reading >”. People actually do what they’re told many times. Be clear in your cal-to-action. What exactly do you want the reader to do? Never assume they’ll know. Tell them explicitly.
Next, the newsletter content itself is simply a replay of the blog post. No apologies, no re-writes, nothing. It’s great to send out a blog post because your content will reach a bigger audience, and has a better chance of being shared – by forwarding the email to someone else who is like-minded or needs the solution you offer. Or even to a friend of a friend.
Google Favors Loooong Content
Their post is long. That’s because Google now favors posts of 1500 words or longer. It used to be 250-500 words, but not anymore. Also, the author includes links to external content, ‘interlinks’ – to other blog posts internally, and more graphics that support his points.
This is a real Pro post. Great example of a conversational tone from an authority source, with highly useful information.
How much effort and/or time do you want to devote to your blog/newsletter?
If you finished reading this post, others will too, so take 5 seconds (!) to share on Facebook, Twitter or your favorite social scoop. Thanks!
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Marketing and Social Media.
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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:
Lisa Chapman helps company leaders define, plan and achieve their goals – both online and offline. After 25+ years as an entrepreneur, she is now a business and marketing consultant, business planning consultant and social media consultant. Online, she works with clients to establish and enhance their brand, attract their Target Audience, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert them into Buyers. You can reach her via email: Lisa (at) LisaChapman (dot) com. Her book, The WebPowered Entrepreneur – A Step-by-Step Guide is available at:
- Amazon.com: http://bit.ly/AmazonTheWebPoweredEntrepreneur
- Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/BNTheWebPoweredEntrepreneur
Lisa Chapman serves her clients as a Business and Marketing Coach, Business Planning Consultant and Social Media Consultant, specializing in increasing revenues.