Marketing

Publishing Your First Blog Post Made Easy

Whether you’re a fresh or seasoned marketer, you’ve probably heard how “content is king.” Instead of being bombarded with outbound (traditional) advertising, more and more people want to get to know you through the valuable information you have to offer.

Lucky for you, inbound marketing – like blogging – costs 67% less per lead[1] than traditional marketing. Inbound leads also achieve approximately 14.6% close rate in comparison to only 1.7%[2] for outbound leads.

So without further ado, let’s get down to business…

Writing your first blog post can be scary, and that’s normal. But when you’ve done your homework, a lot of the tension that comes with the ambiguity of not knowing what to expect is eased.

Before you start researching topics, let alone writing your first post, you must have one very important thing figured out: your brand persona and tone of voice.

The Branding Exercise

Are you the brand, or are you writing on behalf of a brand? In either case, you need to know how you wish to be positioned in the market and perceived by your audience. It also takes two to tango, so a great deal of honing your brand identity involves knowing precisely who your audience is.

With concrete understanding of your brand and your target audience, it becomes easier to decide how you want the blog to sound like.

Is it fun, upbeat, and embeds information in entertainment? Is it professional, grounded, and leans towards informative reads? Are you flexible with listicles, or do you solely commit to the classic article format?

It’s great to ask as many questions as possible in the early stages of building your blog. And a great way to ask the right questions is to read a lot of competitor blogs. Not only does the exposure teach you about the different styles to choose from, it gives you a real feel of the end result.

Only when you’re confident about your brand voice and your target persona can you start thinking about your first blog post.

Kickstarter Ideas for Your First Blog Post

A blank page can be the perfect daunting recipe for a writer’s block. So don’t feel discouraged if it takes you a while before words start transpiring on paper. To help you get things going, here are a few first blog post ideas:

Introduce yourself: If you’re fairly new to the market, you can write about the brand founders and how they brought this business to life. However, if you’ve been in the market for a while, try giving your readers a glimpse into something that hasn’t been made public before – like the personal story of the CEO for instance.
Write about your values: Oftentimes, the values behind the services and products you provide give your business leverage over competitors. They also give your prospect clients something genuine and moral to connect over.
Inspire your audience: While everyone is trying to find their big break, inspirational stories can be the fuel that keeps us going. The beauty of inspiration is that it’s found in failure as much as it’s found in success – all it takes is a moment of truth and the wisdom to deduce real value from life’s teachings. Opening up to your audience about the challenges that led up to where you are now gives your story depth and exposes you in a more human light.
Share your market knowledge: There’s no better way to win someone’s trust than by being a pro. Whether you base your knowledge on extensive research or on-ground experience, it’s always valuable to share your two cents on critical and controversial topics with your audience.

The Building Blocks of a Blog Post

The long wait is finally over; it’s time to start writing.

Here’s a useful tip that will speed up your writing process and minimize editing time: Try jotting down your article’s blueprint before your start writing. This helps you evaluate how flowing your ideas are and enables you to reorder topics for better structure.

1. Text

One thing is for sure; no matter how the article flows, it must begin with a solid hook. Also known as “lede”, the first paragraph is critical because it either grabs your reader’s attention or forever loses them.

Make sure your lede is short and to the point. Within the first two paragraphs, your reader must be aware of blog post’s exact topic.

There are multiple ways to write a good lede that hooks your readers in. Try using quotes, interesting facts or statistics, or maybe even an intriguing, food-for-thought question.

The first few paragraphs are usually the hardest. You’d be surprise at how flowing the rest of the article gets once you’re past the lede. However, beware of getting caught up in the moment and boring the readers with information that is redundant or irrelevant to the topic.

To avoid overwhelming your readers, try breaking up the body with subheadings. This gives your readers a breather in case of long reads.

Once the article has matured and reached a point that calls for closure, try wrapping up with call-to-action, a glimpse into future plans, or an open-ended question.

Whatever you do, don’t just recap everything you said using words like “in conclusion.” This is neither class nor a slide presentation.

2. Visuals

The beauty of publishing online is that you can turn your blog post into an immersive experience with a rich variety of visual elements. From photos to infographics, videos, and even GIFs, the visual element adds fun to your content and helps draw a clearer picture for your readers.

The internet is packed with albums upon albums of photos. While most of them are accessible, be a champ and make sure they are licensed under Creative Commons before using them. Otherwise, you can subscribe to any of the zillion stock image collectives and feast on endless photos to freely choose from.

3. Sourcing and Credits

The final stage of building your blog post is giving due respect to the people who deserve it. No one is a know-it-all in the literal sense. That’s why to give your blog content credibility, it’s great to hyperlink any report findings or statistics to the original source you got them from.

This applies to photos as well. Always make sure to properly credit the photos you use whenever possible. It’s the least form of appreciation to a photographer even when you haven’t bought their work.

It’s a Wrap!

If you’ve made it all the way to this point in your blog post, then well done! But before you check this task off your list, here are a few more steps that will guarantee your blog post gets the best possible feedback:

1. Proofread

It’s very common for writers, even the most nuanced, to miss ridiculous faults like typing ‘the’ twice or writing ‘they’re’ instead of ‘their’. Because your mind is so invested in the blog post you’ve just finished, it’s advised to take some time before you go fishing for punctuation, spelling, or grammar mistakes. Otherwise, you can run it by a professional copyeditor or proofreader to make sure it’s good to go.

2. Enhance SEO

At this point, you must have put too much effort into the blog post to risk not having it found. In order for your blog post to drive traffic to your website, you need to include topic-specific keywords. This process is commonly known as search engine optimization (SEO).

It’s completely fine if you’re not experienced in SEO. You can always outsource a pro to enrich your blog post with SEO keywords.

3. Share it online

The moment you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. You can now press the ‘publish’ button.

If your brand is active on social media, it’s always great to share your blog post across your channels along with a captivating caption to entice readership.

If you’re still struggling with writing your own blog content, our team of professional, industry-specific writers can take care of it for you.

Get in touch or request a quote today!

[1] Adam Rowels 2015, Inbound vs Outbound Marketing, Inbound Marketing Agency, accessed 27 January 2020, <https://www.inboundmarketing.com.au/inbound-vs-outbound-marketing/>

[2] Raza Kazi 2019, Why is ‘Outbound vs Inbound Sal

Boosting Your Business With Social Media Localization

Is the internet mainly comprised of English speakers? Not really! In fact, as of January 2020, only about 26% of internet users speak English, so, where does that leave the rest? We falsely assume that most people on the internet is either a native English speaker or is fluent in it, but about 60% of the world’s population is surfing the web and native English speakers don’t even make up half of that. This indicates that it’s time for businesses to make use of the opportunities and potential that localized marketing has to offer. Airbnb and WeWork were already way ahead of everyone else years ago. What can social media localization do for your business? It increases your local presence In addition to increasing website traffic and followers, you’ll also win the admiration of those who speak the language(s) you’re targeting. It also provides great SEO potential and a rich source of keywords that will help you tap into the local market, gaining more traffic along the way. You’ll gain better brand reputation You won’t just be “another English website” for others who speak a different language. You’ll be the company that values building a personal connection with all your audience – not just English speakers. Your company will show a great level of cultural sensitivity and empathy, which will lead to a stronger bond between you and your target audience, and therefore, a better reputation. It’ll boost your sales When your product listings, website, and services are all listed in your target audience’s native language, your consumers will better understand these products. They’ll ask questions about the product or service that provide more accurate and valuable insights for your sales teams, and this newly gained information will help drive more efficient sales in your local market. Highly targeted ads Ads aren’t just plain text with a colorful background on your website; they should be clever, witty, and most importantly, personal. Non-native speakers won’t always interpret the message or intention behind the ad as much as you think; they might translate it word-for-word, and the spirit of the whole ad vanishes. When you translate your ads so that they’re not only understood by your audience but also resonate with them, you’ll gain better quality leads and customers from your social media localizationefforts. Tips for effective social media localization Choose the right platform(s) It’s easy to assume that Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are the main places you’ll find your target audience. Just create a page or translate your website content in a different language and you’re done, but that’s not always the case. For example, Twitter is banned in China, and the Chinese equivalent to Twitter is an app called Sina Weibo, which is considered one of the most popular apps there. Do your research on where your target audience is mainly found and what apps or social media platforms are considered most popular in their countries. Find out the best channels to reach your audience and create pages on those social media apps. Use high quality translations for your Facebook posts, video subtitles, and website content so that you’re seen as more reliable to your users. Hire native speakers We tend to view language as just a string of words that you can put together to form a coherent sentence, but every language carries with it a myriad of cultural nuances that only a native speaker or someone with near-native fluency will understand. Native speakers are familiar with cultural norms, regional dialects, cultural differences, traditions, and slang. They’ll more likely interact with your audience better than you will. Invest in a team of native speakers who can edit your translated content and provide high quality, engaging, and personable social media posts and ads. Be respectful of cultural values This is why hiring native speakers is of utmost importance. But if that’s not on your agenda right now, educate yourself about the cultural values of your target audience. Understand the cultural differences and cultural norms of your target audience’s respective countries. Your target audience will better connect with your social media and website content when you’re able to show sensitivity and awareness towards what is acceptable in their culture and what isn’t. Not only that, but also making references to pop culture references and celebrities popular in their country will make you more relatable and will therefore elicit a potential “click” on one of your ads. Use the right hashtags Translating the hashtags you use in your English ads and using them on your social media pages will either yield poor results or make you come across as unauthentic and “salesy.” You’re trying to create a brand presence that is genuine, authentic, and reliable, and so merely translating words won’t help you in that regard. If you’re using Instagram or a local social media channel that utilizes hashtags, make sure you look at what hashtags local competitors are using on their social media pages. Trial and error will also help you understand what hashtags are working and what aren’t. Research SEO keywords The same problem with hashtags may also occur when researching the right SEO keywords for your translated website. Using the same English keywords but in a different language might rob you from the chance of getting better and higher quality results. Hire an SEO specialist who specializes in the language you’re targeting and have them create a list of keywords that help accurately reflect your brand and properly attract the right local audience. If you don’t know who should translate and localize your social media content, Tarjama offers a range of translation services according to your marketing goals. Whether it’s a dash of human creativity that you need in your translated content, or you’re seeking advanced language technology for higher, or even both. At Tarjama, we’ll translate your content in whichever way you need.

May 10, 2021

6 Steps For Website Localization To Compete In A Global Marketplace

As the world becomes one big village via the internet, the target audience for any company that wants to grow should always be global. With digitalization, every consumer in all parts of the world, their culture and habits are one click away for businesses. When going through a digital transformation or laying the base of your new company, one should always keep in mind the opportunities the global marketplace has awaiting. You might be a startup or an authoritative company in your industry, but that doesn’t mean you should be left out of the fast-paced marketplace and the profits it has to offer. Speaking with the same voice as your consumers in another part of the world requires knowledge of their cultural norms, not just the language. When content localization is done for your business, you will have the same tone of voice as your consumer. You can create consumer sentiment that will positively affect your sales and reputation. The definition of localization can differ and might be a gray area in terms of execution. Localizing your website to the target country is how you will showcase yourself to its locals, as an entity that is one of them. Let’s go over the steps of localization in this article where we have gathered the most crucial information you need when localizing your website into another language and the attributes you should look for in your localization partner. What is Website Localization and Why Is It Important Your website content is how you showcase yourself to the digital world. The quality of content is one thing, but to serve the same experience as you do in your mother language to other languages and cultures is a whole other thing. The local market needs you to be just as local as them. They want your website to feel at home for them with all their gestures and phrases. The difference between translation and localization is felt at this point. To translate content, you only need the systematic equivalents of the words in the target language. By translating all the words you have, the content now is the same through feeling, structure, and meaning. But this is where a good business separates itself from this mainstream workflow. Suppose a company wants to be successful in localized marketing. It should also consider the cultural differences, how the local market works, and the sentiments used in that country. When translation is the solution, there are almost always flaws in the content not being thorough enough for the consumer. Sometimes a single word use means different within the context of what you’re trying to say. This is why you have to value not just the word but what it stands for. Like thousands of successful companies in the world, they deliver what they stand for in their target language. Keep Up To Be The Leader in Your Sector, Worldwide In a world where every day we wake up to innovation, keeping up can be overwhelming. Keeping your presence up to date with changing quality expectations on the one hand and running a business on the other, we know the burden you have. At Tarjama, we use a disruptive business model that reshapes the language industry by integrating artificial intelligence systems at every step of our workflow. We are aware that the human touch is a needed element, but also the use of technology plays an important role in saving significant time and money for companies. We have built engines using the latest technologies in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and automated repetitive tasks by augmenting human capabilities. Thus, we have enabled ten people to do the work of 50, with higher quality results. This shows how we keep up as a leader in the linguistic sector. And we want to do the same for you. As the website localization ROI is much higher than translating content, we have proven ourselves to break the language barrier for enterprises to grow their global presence with seamless, localized content. The industry is filled with translation algorithms and hands-on translations. The solution for success here is to have the perfect harmony of both. To be a local, you have to act like one. And no machine can be as local as the person living in the country! That’s why integrating language technology and local subject matter experts to create the perfect localized content is key to growing your business worldwide. 6 Steps To Localization For Anywhere In The World According to research, internet users spend more time on websites in their native language and shop mostly from websites in their native language. So, wherever you want to expand your business, localization is what you need. With a unique workflow that combines technology and human intellect, it’s possible to deliver local and accurate content to your target audience. Here are five steps on how to localize your website for any country you target in the world. 1- Research and Analyze Your New Local Market Research is vital when starting a business! Be it competition research or pricing, the first step should always be to do thorough research on your target market. – What are their go-to websites when they search for a product? – Where do they read reviews from? – Is there an e-commerce site where they do whole purchases? – What mindset would your business fit within their culture? Good research should give you all these and many more. After your comprehensive analysis of your new local market, you should create a localization strategy in your mind that will feel local to the people of your targeted country. When they see or hear from you, they won’t feel foreign but resonate with your tone of voice and approach. Here are a few questions you should handle with your team about localizing your website that will help you further understand and contribute to your research: -How does your business fit into their culture? -Is your pricing affordable for the

April 18, 2021

Digital Marketing Trends for 2021

Aykut Aslantas, Marketing Director of Tarjama shares his foresights about 2021 in such a challenging digital world and gives us essential, applicable advice on how to succeed in the new world order after the global pandemic conditions At the beginning of every year, there is always great attention to digital marketing trends and marketing innovations. Examining the innovations in digital marketing, technology, and platforms and preparing a guide that can help marketers or brands to take active roles to identify new opportunities may sound conventional, but it creates a great value. Every year I’m trying to create content to help marketers to focus on the digital marketing tendencies that will help them succeed but as you know, this year is not like every other year. That is why we need to take a different perspective. As you know COVID-19 pandemic shook the traditional ways to do business and drove companies into a new marketing strategy. More and more products and services went online and many of the workers will keep working remote for most of the year or semi-remote. Various client responses to COVID-19 which lasted for months gave information about marketing trends that function on this new normal and what expects us in 2021. In this year, digital marketing trends seem to circuit around 2 almost conflicting notions. The first one is individualization that tackles real issues and tailors the content (as opposed to mass appeal) to fit to the customers with a more interest/relevance focus and demographic segment basis. We can take the second one as tasks that require much more mechanical and technical optimization that your happy clients do not actually see. So what are the fundamental digital marketing trends in 2021 that your business/brand needs to pay attention to to interact with and keep existing customers and also to create more traffic, potential clients, and income? 1) Artificial Intelligence If you haven’t noticed yet, 2021 could be the year that many people will notice the domination of artificial intelligence (AI). It is certain that AI will take a big role in global trade and industry and it has already taken over many simple tasks. Just a couple of years ago marketers were reluctant to include AI in their digital marketing strategies. But since this year uncertainty has decreased compared to the results it can deliver they have gained much more confidence in using artificial intelligence. These smart tools are getting more and more developed and they are slowly going to the point to outpace humans in some ways that we can see. In a survey more than 1,600 digital marketing professionals took part, 61% of marketers said AI and ML (machine learning) will be the top data initiatives next year. (Source: MeMSQL) In Salesforce survey showed that 51% of marketers are already using AI and 27% are planning to include it in their strategy in 2021. AI is actively used in the fields I mentioned below, and I believe it will boost many other services in the not-too-distant future. • Basic communication (via Chatbots)• Product recommendation• Content creation• Email personalization• Ecommerce processes and personalization 2) Programmatic advertising Programmatic advertising is using AI to automize buying ads to target more specific target groups. For example, real-time bidding is a programmatic way to buy ads. This automation is much more productive and fast which translates into a higher conversion rate and lower cost for customer acquisition. Most of the search based manual ad campaigns (even the ones which are implemented by professional tools) take 3 or 4 targets into consideration: keyword, time of the day, and location. Programmatic advertising platforms can use hundreds of signals to personalize the ad and even target based on lifestyle or behavioral habits when integrated with customer data platforms. In order to use programmatic advertising first thing, you need to do is deciding whom you are targeting and what you are planning to achieve via addressing them directly. Programmatic advertising is not bound with one single aim and can be utilized for getting different results. 3) Dialogue Marketing With all this vibe about chatbots, the reality of modern marketing becomes clearer: “more talkative communication”. People demand it this way and brands respond. 82% of consumers demand “instant” answers when they have a problem or question. And most of the time they want real humans rather than bots. Dialogue marketing makes the real-time connection between marketers and clients way easier. Unlike traditional strategies, this marketing method can be used in multiple channels and enable brands to talk to clients in their own terms: best-fitting devices, platforms, and timelines to the customer. Ultimately, the primary goal of dialogue marketing is to improve user experience through a feedback-driven model that encourages higher and greater engagement. 4) Video Marketing Currently, video marketing is not one of the most important marketing trends but we are sure it will be used much more actively, probably in the upcoming 5-10 years. These numbers show the importance of adding videos to your marketing strategy in 2021: • 70% of consumers say they share videos of brands• 72% of businesses say video increases their conversion rate• 52% of consumers say watching product videos make it safer for them to buy products online• 65% of managers visit websites of marketers and 39% call a seller after watching videos Don’t take only YouTube for video. Never forget that since you can post a video and/or live stream on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, there are many ways to engage more with your video marketing. The videos on your website have a 50 times more chance to create organic traffic. Why? Since people find video content more interesting Google ranks pages that include videos higher. One of the best things about video marketing is that it gives you the opportunity to reshape your content. Imagine you are creating a video content for your YouTube channel. Instead of posting it only on YouTube, you can also: • Transcribe your video to have the text version• To

March 21, 2021

Killer Copywriting Hacks to Kickstart a Winning Blog

Inbound marketing is a new age marketing method used to attract potential customers to products and services through targeted online content that is catered specifically to their needs and interests. Unlike outbound marketing – such as TV, radio, or print ads – in bound marketing promotes products through creating awareness and adding value, which makes blogging one of the main forms of inbound marketing. Regarded as part of a business’s content marketing strategy, a blog is part of the website where articles of relevance to the business are published. Depending on the marketing content strategy, blogs can be entertaining, informative, engaging, or a combination of them. In the age of digital marketing, strong online presence is pivotal for business success. To that end, blogging is necessary to instill a positive brand image and spread brand awareness. What Makes Blogging Such a Strong Marketing Tool? 1. Stand out as a field expert Consistent blogging reflects your commitment to your community. But frequency without proper content planning isn’t enough. It is imperative that you study your competitors as well as your prospects and build a content plan that is aligned to the market interests and needs. The more insightful the content you publish, the more it reflects your field expertise. If prospects find answers to their questions on your website, they are more likely turn to your product or service to meet their needs. This goes a long way in helping you gain the trust of your customers. 2. Attract more traffic A well written blog post is not only informative, it helps your website rank higher on search engines. Your brand visibility increases as the number of unique and recurring visitors increases. It also increases through the proper use of SEO keywords. Having the right traffic on your website is an excellent chance to subtly promote your products and services. At the end of your blog post, you should include a call to action that entices them to go from readers to customers. 3. Generate demand Before launching a product, your blog can serve as a platform through which you build anticipation for your new release. You can give details of what the product does and why your customers should invest in it. Apple, for example, has built its business model around this approach. Before the release of any of their new products, promotional events are held to announce the upcoming release and educate the audience on its new and upgraded features. 4. Add value to your community Blogging improves your customers’ user experience by addressing their concerns head on. Including a tab for FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on your blog enables your users to get easy access to difficulties that may arise during their experience. Ensuring a smoother experience for more customers can easily attract more prospects to your business. What are the Different Types of Blogs? What are the Best Strategies that Guarantee a Successful Blog? What are the Factors that Determine the Right Strategy for You? How to Choose Between In-house and Outsourced Writers? Building and executing a successful content plan is a lot of work and commitment and requires a dedicated team. But not all companies have the capacity to hire a full-fledged full-time content team. In this case, you may have to outsource the needed talents as you go. Here are four options for you to consider when assigning writing projects: Starting a blog is easy but starting a competitive and successful blog requires hard work and determination. Attracting and maintaining an audience for your blog will need you to be original, informative and consistent in publishing fresh content. If the process is too complex, let us help you. Contact our team of expert industry-specific linguists and shrug off any concerns about building and maintaining your blog.

June 4, 2020