Some people think I am annoying. But that makes me a better blog writer. I am the person who combs through the fine print, anticipates every worst case scenario and asks what the contingency plan is. Fortunately I have found that this quality serves me well for blog writing. I have had success with something I call “Pick-Apart Posts”. I will take a topic and literally pick it apart. I’ll look at it from every angle, ask every potential question my customer could ask, try to think of every scenario and then find the answers and document them.
Read moreTrue or False: 12 Things You Should Know About Traveling to Iceland in Winter
Why would you go to Iceland in the winter?
Because it is an amazing adventure.
I went to Iceland in January with two of my closest friends to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our first adventure together, when we backpacked through Europe as young single girls. Although we live on opposite sides of the country, and have chosen different paths in life, we left husbands and children at home this year to experience another adventure together.
Here are a 10 things you should know before you plan a winter adventure in Iceland.
Read moreHow to ReOptimize or RePublish Old Blog Posts To Get More Traffic
You’ve heard of the 80/20 rule, right? I bet you get 80% of your traffic from 20% of your blog posts.
All of us struggle with finding time to write new blog posts. So instead, here is a strategy you can use to get more traffic and leads from the blog posts you have already published. First you want to find out which of your blog posts are the most popular.
Read moreThe Key Personality Trait of a Great Marketer
What personality trait should you look for when hiring for marketing?
Should the person be organized, creative, detail oriented? You could argue that all of those qualities are important.
But I believe the key personality trait of a great marketer is OPTIMISM - unfailing, unflagging optimism: the belief that just because something hasn’t worked before, it might work this time. Or the prospect who hasn’t responded to the last ten marketing touches, might just call today.
Read moreAn Easy Way to Generate More Content with Less Work – Blog Rewrite Service
So many blog sites, so little time. Everyone wants original content, but there is only so much time in the day for writing.
When you spend the time researching and crafting a great blog post it is tempting to post it on more than one site. But that little voice in your head should remind you that duplicate content is bad; search engines don’t like duplicate content and it will not improve your SEO.
If you plan to use the same content on multiple blog sites, it should be rewritten it so that the content is fresh. This does not just mean changing the title and a few sentences.
Read moreFour Ideas to Promote Your Session During an Event
What if you plan a party and nobody shows up? Or worse, just one or two show up and you stare awkwardly at each other while they wonder where all the cool people went instead?
The same is true if you present a session at an event.
Don’t just rely on the event coordinators to promote you, do your part to get people into the room to listen to you. Attendees usually have several sessions to choose from during a single time slot, and plenty of people to distract them in the hallways, so you have tough competition. There are several things you can do to promote your session DURING the event. Here are four ideas:
Read moreInside the Enterprise Software Podcast: Interview with Bob McAdam
What is involved in producing a successful podcast? Bob McAdam, one of the hosts of the Enterprise Software Podcast, along with Todd McDaniel and Darcy Boerio, shared his story with me about how their podcast started, what is involved in producing it and some of the benefits along the way.
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The History of How the ERP Software Blog Actually Got Started
“Can you imagine if we actually got one member in every state?”
I clearly remember sitting in our kitchen and asking my husband that question just before the ERP Software Blog launched in June 2009. Fast forward 6 years later and we have over 150 members across several sites that are the most popular ERP and CRM group blogs, not just in our channel, but on the web.
But let’s go back to when it all began.
Read moreIs Someone Plagiarizing Your Blog Content?
People who intentionally plagiarize blog content, and pass it off as their own, are slimy. There is an easy way to find out if someone else is plagiarizing your content (or if you have copied theirs!)
Read more3 Ways to Avoid Posting Duplicate Blog Content
Duplicate content is bad. You should not post exactly the same blog article on more than one site. But many of you that write for the ERP/CRM Software Blogs also write for your own company blog sites. How can you avoid duplicate content across company and group blogs? Here are my 3 tips:
Read moreHow to Safely Post Duplicate Content on Multiple Blog Sites
You know that posting duplicate content online is dangerous, but I bet you do it anyway.
You will get the most SEO value for your hard work if you rewrite the post for each blog you intend to use it on. But, I know that when you have worked hard on an article, posting it more than once is just so awfully tempting that it is hard to resist.
So here are steps you can follow to use canonical link tags to identify duplicate content and hopefully avoid any Google penalties.
Read moreHow To Use Yoast To Optimize Your Blog Post
Once you have made the effort to write a blog post, isn’t is worth just a little more effort to make sure it is optimized so people (and search engines) can find it?
An easy way to optimize your post for SEO is to the “Wordpress SEO by Yoast” tool. This is already installed on the blog sites that I manage. There are 4 basic fields on the “General” that take just a few minutes to fill out but can improve your SEO results.
Read moreDirectories & Events Every Microsoft Dynamics Marketer Needs to Evaluate
Once you have been in the Dynamics channel for a while, you know where to get the information you need.
For example, here are my “go to” directories when I want to find a specific ISV product or partner. (Hint: if you are an ISV partner that wants to get found, you should check out these lists too). And a list of top events for Dynamics partners you shouldn't miss.
Read moreHow Canva.com Can Make Anyone a Graphic Designer – Even Me
I will tell you a secret: I am a marketer who hates working with graphics. But recently I found a tool that makes working with other types of images much easier. www.canva.com lets me to “pretend” to be a graphic designer, without really knowing anything about graphics or design. I can create my own images, with graphics and text and then download them for free to use in blog posts, on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and more.
Read moreInconceivable - I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means
Do your prospects understand what you mean? I am not talking about using acronyms or techy lingo, although Microsoft Dynamics partners are notorious for that too. My question is, are you sure that your prospects understand the meaning of your words the same way you do? I found out I was doing it wrong.
Read moreShould I Post On My Own Blog Or A Group Blog?
They say that location is the key to value, and the same is true with blog posts. Many people ask me where they should post their content - on their own blog or a group blog such as the ERP Software Blog. Find out how I decide.
Read moreLessons I Learned In the Press Room at Microsoft Convergence
The first time I was invited to attend Microsoft Convergence as a member of “The Press” in 2012 I was scared to death.
I found myself in a room of about 50 very seasoned, mostly male, journalists firing tough questions at Microsoft’s top executives. I remember wondering, “How in the world did I get in here and when is someone going to realize I don’t belong?”
But nobody called my bluff and in fact, they continued to invite me back year after year.
Read more5 Ways ISV Partners Can Connect With VAR Partners Using Social Media
ISV partners often need to form new relationships with VAR partners in the Microsoft Dynamics community and many of them still rely on cold calls. As a VAR partner I can tell you that I get far too many of these “cold calls” and I tune them out. But I can also tell you that there is a better way. Here are some simple ways that ISV partners can connect with, and get their names known by, VAR partners using social media.
Read more7 Simple Tips to Improve Your Google+ Posts
For those of us who are not Google+ experts, we can still look like experts by using a few simple tips. My last post “How to Change Thumbnail Images on Google+ Posts” is one example. Here are a six more simple Google+ tips:
Read moreHow to Change Thumbnail Images on Google+ Posts
The image added to this article doesn't really match the content, and it is actually kind of confusing….Are you doing the same thing to your readers with your Google+ posts?
Using the right graphic is an important way to engage readers. It may seem simple to some people, but many don’t realize that you can change the default image that appears when you add a link in a Google+ post.
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