Find my quotes scattered throughout each of these articles.
1. Canz Marketing – “Content Marketing Takeaways From Experts”
Research competitors & do SEO
Anastasia Iliou warns, saying, “We pay the most attention to SEO and to what competitors are doing. You have to go above and beyond your competitors. That means publishing more quality content that is useful, comprehensive, and entertaining. Additionally, no matter how good your content is, if your site isn’t built to be SEO friendly, you’re going to have a hard time.”
Quality over quantity
Anastasia Iliou mentions, “It’s important to push out a lot of content, but if you’re pushing mediocre content, it doesn’t matter how much of it there is.” She says, “We made the mistake of prioritizing quantity over quality, publishing multiple short blogs per day that were just *ok*. Now, we focus on quality first. Our content is longer, stronger, and performing much better.”
Seek professional help
Anastasia Iliou states, “If you have the budget for it, hire an in-house content marketer who has experience with copywriting, SEO, and graphic design. Alternatively, hire a freelance writer. You can get 1,000-word blog posts done for $100 per piece or less. Spend a couple of grand on some high-quality pieces of content that you can reuse and adjust as much as you need to, and you’ll have your content marketing strategy off the ground in no time.”
Pollinate content
“We have lots of great blogs, several videos, a bunch of great infographics, etc., but they are not always cross-functional. We’re going to work hard next year to make sure that all of our blogs have corresponding videos and that everything is being shared out on every channel (social media, email marketing, podcast, etc.).”
2. Paperflite – “Content Marketing Plans for 2020“
Enhance existing content
Anastasia Iliou, senior content manager at Medicare Plan Finder, says, “In 2019, our content update strategy pushed us forward. We spent more time on updating older content instead of writing new content. We went down to only one or two new blogs per week but continuously worked on older pieces by adding keywords, increasing the length, adding images and videos, etc. We saw significant spikes in traffic on those blogs and subsequently throughout our whole website.“
3. Databox – “Avoid These 38 SEO Fails to Increase Your Chances of Ranking.”
Letting keywords take control
Anastasia Iliou says Medicare Plan Finder have struggled with this, too: “When I started getting into the SEO/content game, I was told to try to fit in as many uses of the keyword as I could. I ran into situations where in 1,000 words, I used my keyword 20 times. All of the occurrences looked natural, but they weren’t, and it was too much.”
4. Zerys.com – “Build the Perfect Content Calendar: Tips and Tools from 97 Marketers“
Asana
“We create Asana tasks for each individual piece of content we’re writing and then assign them to the appropriate writer. Within each task, we create subtasks for the outline, the SEO keywords, the review process, etc. so that we have to check everything off and never miss any steps.”
“When we want to manage the actual calendar, we go into Asana’s calendar view, and we can see when everything is scheduled to be published. We can drag things around as we see fit. We can also set special fields that allow us to color-code the calendar based on author, subject matter, etc.”
5. Zerys.com – “100+ Marketers Weigh-in on Outsourcing vs Staffing In-House Writers”
Freelance writers can be a new set of eyes and ears.
Anastasia Iliou of Medicare Plan Finder shared this example: “We gave a freelance writer a blog on preventative health benefits for Medicare. Considering we’re Medicare professionals and our freelance writer was not, he answered questions for our readers that we didn’t even consider asking—because the answers are obvious to us and we know that we’ve answered them in other areas.”
6. Databox – “22 Overlooked Digital Advertising Channels That Can Drive Acquisition”
Live chat
“People don’t like talking on the phone anymore, but they want their questions answered quickly,” noted Anastasia Iliou of Medicare Plan Finder. “So, instead of finding the answers they need by looking through your content, they’ll use your live chat function to get a quick answer.”
As Iliou put it, “Boom—you have a lead!”
7. Databox – “20 Ways to Fill Your Editorial Calendar with Highly Relevant Topics”
Go through your blog archives.
Now you’re in the process of looking through old content, Anastasia Iliou of Medicare Plan Finder notes that you could use it as inspiration for new ideas: “The best way to fill your editorial calendar is to constantly update and improve your old content.”
“You can publish 1,000 words one day and then in one month realize that there are another 1,000 words on the same topic that you can add,” Iliou explains.
“The more you update, the more amazing and comprehensive your content will be. Plus, you’ll never run out of articles to add to your calendar.”
8. Spoke – “9 fun & useful Easter eggs that make Slack even better“
Search with power
Anastasia Iliou, senior content manager for MedicarePlanFinder.com, said that Slack’s search function has a greater reach than that of many other applications.
“It’s easier to look for old messages in Slack than in any other messaging platform,” she said.
The search bar is located at the top right of the Slack window, between the gear icon and the “@” symbol.
9. U.S. News – “How a Medicaid Spend Down Works”
“A Medicaid spend down is going to mean something different in every state, because the income guidelines are different,” says Anastasia Iliou, the senior content manager for Medicare Plan Finder, an insurance agency with locations in in Nashville, Tennessee and Tucson, Arizona.
10. GoDot Media – “25 SMB Marketers Reveal Their Content Marketing Success Stories and Pain Points.”
Could you please share your input on the top 2 content marketing pain points?
The biggest content marketing pain points are figuring out the most cost-effective way to produce enough content and fighting the battle between quality and quantity. For most organizations, it can actually be more cost-effective to hire an in-house writer than to assign various freelance projects. An in-house writer can not only write all of your marketing content but can also manage your SEO and digital marketing efforts. There’s more work involved in content marketing than most businesses think.
Additionally, your organization needs to find the balance between producing enough up-to-date content to become a reputable source and taking the time to produce high-quality content.
Share 1 success you have had with a content marketing strategy.
Sometimes the best way to do this is to start by spending a year or so publishing several pieces of relevant content and then going back and constantly updating and improving your content over time. That way, it’s out there and Google knows that you have a lot of great things to say, but you can constantly make it better. We’ve had a lot of SEO success with our content update strategy just by taking an hour or so each day to add better, more up-to-date content to pre-existing pieces.
11. MerlinOne – “31 Content Marketers & Marketing Leaders Share The Most Important Traits of Successful Content Managers”
“A successful content marketer has to be adaptable.
The content marketing landscape and SEO change every day. Google changes their algorithm, new competitors join the game, and new complications come to the surface. You have to be constantly looking at the latest trends and following Google for new SEO rule announcements. Sometimes Google releases news that requires you to change an entire part of your content marketing process. You have to be willing to adapt, make the change, and move on.”
12. Your Tango – “The Difference Between Miss And Ms. (And How To Use Them Properly)”
It’s also an age thing.
Another expert had a different way of defining where to draw the line.
“Everyone is usually clear on the fact that ‘Mrs.’ indicates a married woman, but Miss and ‘Ms.’ are often used interchangeably. Historically, ‘Miss’ has been more appropriate when the subject is young (especially below the age of 18), and ‘Ms.’ is correct when addressing an older woman (over 18, but especially over 30),” says Anastasia Iliou, Senior Content Manager at Medicare Plan Finder.
She continues, ”There will be cases where an older woman feels either flattered or offended when the wrong Miss or ‘Ms.’ is used, but in terms of traditional, proper etiquette, age should play a factor.”
13. The Manifest – “How Different Generations Use Social Media”
Ultimately, people’s social media habits are shaped by their individual preferences and interests, which are also influenced by their age and generation but not always.
“I’m a millennial, but so is my fiancé, and we both use social media very differently,” said Anastasia Iliou, senior content manager at MedicarePlanFinder.com. “I’m more of a Facebook user … My fiancé, on the other hand, pretty much exclusively uses Reddit. I genuinely believe that preferred social media platforms have nothing to do with age and everything to do with personality.”
16. Project Hatch – “How Do You Keep a Remote Team Motivated?”
“Remote and flexible working produces healthier work/life balances and allows your employees to feel more trusted which keeps them engaged. Being able to work wherever and whenever you want means that your manager trusts that you are going to work at least a productive 40 hours per week. Remote employees can change up their work environment as much as they want, from their home office or a local coffee shop instead of sitting at the same desk day after day which boosts productivity. Working from home also allows your remote employees to enjoy life more and feel less stifled in your personal life by your professional life which keeps remote workers motivated.
My best advice for managing remote employees and keeping them in the loop and always part of the team is to have an excellent communication system intact. All your employees, regardless of whether they are remote or not, should always communicate in the same way. Issues start to arise when remote employees are treated differently from in-office employees. Everyone needs to be on the same page (sometimes literally) for effective communication. That means you should have one program (be it Slack, Google Hangouts, or something else) that you use effectively.
The best tip I have for remote workers is to have a closed-door office space. This is a way to block out noise both for yourself and for anyone on the other end of the phone during a meeting. Having a closed-door space with a desk and a comfortable chair will almost always increase production. You’ll also want to invest in a comfortable pair of noise-canceling headphones so that anything from outside traffic to barking dogs or screaming kids will not go through on any conference calls.
With the stress and time constraints of commutes taken away, it can suddenly feel like there are more hours in the day! The U.S. Census reported that the average American commute time was just over 25 minutes, which means you’re looking at anywhere from five to six hours per week that Americans spend driving to and from work. Saving those hours means more time for working out, cooking, cleaning, quality family time, or even working more hours. With the current state of technology, there is almost no need for most people to report to a traditional office. All you need is a strong Wi-Fi connection and an updated computer.”
17. Databox – “15 SEO Metrics That You Should be Tracking on a Daily Basis.”
“Organic traffic is slightly different than organic clicks. The latter represents the number of times your results have been clicked in SERPs.
“To [Rain], a B2B company, clicks are the most important metric,” says Anastasia Iliou. “It’s nice if we’re ranking, but if no one is clicking through, it doesn’t help us. We need to be constantly monitoring clicks so that we can revise our SEO strategy and look for better results.”
18. Databox – “50+ Experts Share the SEO Metrics They Track Every Week (& Why You Should, Too.”
“Rain‘s Anastasia Iliou adds: “If all of a sudden your top keyword takes a dramatic fall, you need to revise your strategy ASAP. If you notice one of your competitors is suddenly ranking for a new keyword, add it to your list ASAP.””
19. Creative Innovation Group – “The Future of HR”
“HR is moving towards culture and for the people tactics instead of the
very corporate, legal attitude that HR professionals usually carry. More
and more companies are hiring people and culture directors either as a
replacement or in addition to HR professionals. Benefits are changing from
one-size-fits-all health insurance to a buffet of options. Companies are
adding benefits like in-house daycares, dog-friendly offices, and financial
wellness benefits.
Hiring is going to have to be more personable. We can’t use resume-reading
technologies and expect to hire perfect culture fits. Hiring is going to
start to rely even more on networking than ever before, and companies are
going to start looking at social media profiles more seriously. It won’t
necessarily be to see if you like to post inappropriate pictures, either.
That might be part of it, but companies will also start looking for
personality clues. People and culture leaders will be trained to look at an
Instagram profile and determine whether they think a person is likely to be
a good culture fit for the team.
As culture becomes more important to employees, it HAS to become more
important for employers. We’re already starting to see this change, and I
fully believe that my children will have an extremely different view of HR
than what was instilled in me.”
20. Upcity – “33 Expert B2B Content Marketing Tips for Lead Generation“
“B2B leads are tricky because you’re marketing to marketers and selling to salespeople. They know all the tricks that you know. The best way to generate quality B2B leads is to genuinely provide value.”
21. AstuteCopyBlogging – “SEO For Bloggers: 48 Experts Share Website Optimization Tips”
“My number one SEO tip for bloggers is to focus on rewrites and edits. It’s very important to publish a large quantity of content, but if your large quantity of content has poor SEO quality, your blog isn’t going to go anywhere. If you have time to write five posts in a week, turn three of them into updates instead of brand new posts.
Go into Google Search Console and find the blogs that are teetering on the edge of success (like posts that are ranking on page two that you want to push to page one) and work on ramping them up with new/better keywords, more length, more images, etc. It may seem tedious, but you’ll be grateful for it later.”
22. Maroon Oak – “20 ways to market your business online in a pandemic”
“We’re finding most of our marketing success right now in using relatable posts and ads instead of taking COVID-19 marketing too literally,” adds Anastasia Iliou, Marketing Manager at Rain. “For example, we started by running a B2B ad about helping your employees through COVID-19 by using our services. That didn’t work very well. What’s working best now is an ad about giving your employees some good news. That’s why we’re putting a positive spin on everything. We’re offering useful content that does not take advantage of the current situation in a negative way, but doesn’t ignore it, either. We’re running these ads on LinkedIn right now.”
Anastasia Parris 