We have an infographic today to show the power different colors have on people in terms of conveying a certain image and even determining their follow through for making purchases. The infographic is courtesy of KISSmetrics.
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All posts by Peter Marino
Best Apps And Tools That Will Make Your Blogging Life Easier
Blogging may be hard for some of you who are not yet comfortable into the routine of coming up with something exciting and new to talk about regularly. It is very necessary that you are able to catch the inspiration when it strikes. It may be on the breakfast or dinner table, while you are on the thunderbox or when you are lying on the bed. This is where the apps come in handy and allow you keep your genius along with you always.
Here is a list of the best apps and tools that will make your blogging life easier:
1. Evernote
This is one of the most famous web capture tool these days primarily due to the fact that it enables you to grab full web pages, audio, images, text snippets etc. and allows you to recall them whenever needed. Those who are on Evernote find it easy to recall information. If you come across such situations where you encounter a setting that you wish to write about later, use Evernote to clip it and save it for future reference. Evernote also has a lot of cool integrations to offer that make it super-easy-to-use app.
2. Tape-A-Talk Recorder or Dragon Dictation
If you are among those who prefer speaking over writing, it is advisable to get a voice recorder app that will enable you to talk about your post instead of writing it down by typing each word on the keyboard. This voice recorder app can also come in handy when you are driving to work and enroute your mind fills with ideas that you wish to write about. For Android users, Tape-A-Recorder is a useful app as it gives you the freedom to append the recording and send it across to Evernote or e-mail easily.
For iPhone users, a similar app is called Dragon dictation which has the capability of making your dictation appear as text instantly. This app can also be integrated with Evernote.
3. Google Drive
One of the biggest conveniences for any blogger can be the freedom to take his or her content anywhere and post ideas from where he or she is. This is where a web based word processor like Google drive comes to rescue. For those who keep writing on different terminals or devices and collaborating with various authors, storing documents on cloud enables an easy access to the documents to either pick up from where they left or to find out what edits have others made to it. Cloud enables a 24X7 access to your documents from any computer or gadget.
4. Springpad
This app is much similar to Evernote. Other than saving notes, you can also save tasks, look up items to save, and set reminders for particular tasks. Springpad has a wonder feature of organizing your thoughts by itself and does not bother you to do so. Hence in case you wish to blog about a location or a particular product, this app reminds you of these items and allows you to access them easily from your mobile device or computer.
There is no denial that the environment poses the biggest threat to your idea of working and writing on the go. All public places are so loud that you can barely concentrate on an idea. This app is a wonder way to combat such a situation. This noise generating app blocks all other distractions around you enabling you to concentrate on better things. All you need to do is plug in your earphones and run this app to focus on writing and do the task at hand.
This free app is a simple app that runs on your desktop but the dividends that it generates are far more productive. You can set the timer and start doing the task at hand viz. designing, writing or whatever you need to do to grow your blog. After the preset time is over, take a break that is built in the app and take your time to freshen up so that you can be back with a better focus.
7. FireShot
This is a Firefox, Chrome, SeaMonkey and Thunderbird extension. This enables you to get screen shots from the web and annotate, edit, export, upload and even print them conveniently. There are a number of capture options viz. full page, visible part of the page etc. One unique offering with this extension is the set of annotations and editing tools that come with it. It also lets you capture flash content.
About the Author:
Robert Bryant is a blogger and works with MaxWell Systems – A Construction Software Company. He likes blogging about online strategies that are related to Social Media, Online Marketing and Legal issues.
What Should Be Included In Your Music Marketing Mix
Not that long ago, getting into the music industry meant getting a home-recorded tape into the hands of the right person in a record company or hoping that you’d be discovered at a showcase or local gig. For several reasons, for example the rise in digital sales and the increasing amounts of artists creating their own independent labels, the music industry has changed a lot and thus so has the requirements of musicians.
Music
In order to be able to make a lasting impact on the music industry, a band or artist needs a music marketing team with knowledge, connections and the flexibility to create an individual strategy just for them. The amount of radio plays a single gets is still important as it means more exposure and gets the music to the masses to encourage them to buy the music or even see one of the artist or band’s shows, so a music marketing team must be have a great working relationship with several radio stations to increase the likelihood of the music being played on air.
Even though the majority of sales is via downloads nowadays, the radio is still a very strong promotional tool for gaining new fans, getting exposure for your latest single and even generating more ticket sales for shows. It really is a case of ‘it’s who you know, not what you know’, so a music marketing team needs to be have good connections in the whole of the entertainment industry and know the right people to speak to. As there are so many new artists trying to crack into the music industry, a music marketing team should be able to create a unique and bespoke marketing plan for you that gets your music to your target audience and to the radios and shows that they will listen to or watch.
Bespoke Works
Part of creating a bespoke marketing plan is finding a studio and producer that fits in with your individual needs as well as your budget. Just a few years ago, artists could be in debt to their record companies as they were using recording studios, photographers and music video directors that they couldn’t afford but their record company had connections to.
Your marketing team should also find you the right graphics for the visual side of your campaign and photographers for your promotional shoots that share your vision so that your image is presented in a way that is true to you. Again, a marketing team should also make sure that they fit in with your budget. All of this means that music marketing team puts the power back into the hands of the artists and they get treated as individuals.
Package
Finally, a music marketing package should help drive and direct publishing and distribution so that the artists and musicians have full security and their work is copyrighted, and they receive their fair share of royalties. Your marketing team should give you creative freedom and control over the direction you want to take your music whilst giving you the best advice, connections and selling you to the most important people- the fans.
Natasha Bennett currently works for Quite Great a Music PR Company specialising In Music promotion, band promotion and Entertainment in the UK. Natasha uses her vast industry knowledge to contribute as a writer to a variety of publications across music, business, magazines and blogs.
Five Content Promotion Strategies To Win Google
Understanding the need for driving higher traffic and creating the right content for your website is just not enough. You need to address the bigger challenges that necessitate the ideal combination of strategic planning and creative thinking and make your content match up with your defined business goals.
Read on for valuable strategies that discuss effective content promotion strategies that are effective for businesses to win over Google. They will empower your content to navigate targeted traffic from manifold sources (social networks, search engines, referring sites) and help you reap rich dividends and meet your true business goals—in many more ways than one.
White Papers and Freebies for Lead Generation
Offering compelling and free downloads for your targeted audience is a proven and easy means of driving sales leads and developing newsletter lists. Customers always love free stuff coming their way; therefore this content strategy proves to be a great way of funneling new potential customers inside your buying cycle. Freemium downloads usually consist of content that customers find valuable. They include common mediums like PDF files, resourceful lists, instructional videos and even free trials. Take your pick!
Proper keyword research techniques and link building strategies (in social networks and both off site as well as on site) helps in nurturing new site visitors and retaining the loyalty of other regular customers through heavily searched/most sought after topical content.
Guest posting
In contemporary times, this is probably the fastest way of finding a larger audience. Many up-and-coming content marketers are gaining SEO juice and building authority with potential customers, through their ever increasing volumes of guest postings. Smart and innovative guest posts require you to create the best content for finding thousands of readers.
You can use intelligent means to send these “satisfied” readers back to your site, where you have additional terrific content to narrate and share. Guest bloggers boasting of the highest rankings with Google can be hired for the cause.
How-to videos
Successful portals and business forums are based around providing solutions for the queries and problems faced by their customers. Figure out common problems and issues that lend themselves to how-to videos.
You can launch a series of such videos on You Tube and provide proactive solutions to viewers. They should be easy to search, Google friendly and capable of leading your perspective customers back to your site. For best results, you must aim for competitive topics and high quality videos—to differentiate yourself with more effective techniques, an interesting personality and overall better production values, or all of the above. Along with entry-level strategies and tips, you can also provide advanced advice on your products and services.
Professional networking
Along with a decent foundation of content management strategies, you also need to invest your resources in professional networking. By being relevant, interesting and respectful to the views of other bloggers in your niche, you can earn the trust of Google and your viewers alike. Look out for content writers creating interesting content, blogs and other promotional stuff at all levels -large, medium and small. Instead of joining artificial schemes or setting up channels to promote your posts, simply share all the stuff that you feel is cool, and remember to explain why. Upgrading your social media skills and using professional content online can make your presence more visible and valuable.
Product Curation for eCommerce Transactions
Like you see here, in today’s competitive world, it is quite a task to create compelling and unique content to win over the Google landscape. A great way to combat this challenge is by curating products based on user need/interest, developing articles that are fresh and intriguing and finding the right e-commerce products for leveraging the brick-and-mortar solutions of floor salesmen. Your e-commerce site should apply a customer-centric approach to create helpful product guides as well as better defined hands-on approaches for helping viewers find the right products.
These content promotion strategies should be coupled with the expertise and experience of a reputed SEO agency to drive potential customers in an exponential fashion. With the right strategies in place, you can look forward to the highest rankings and visibility on Google and other search engines that matter.
So, get a closer look at your present content schemes and gear up to integrate more feasible and effective options to drive higher traffic your way. Today!
Roman Sahakov, who is the author of this article, is a real professional in the sphere of social media marketing and SEO. Long working experience of Roman has given him a big sense of writing exactly what people need to be up-to-date in this sphere.