Content

August 23, 2008 by marywy2 · Comments Off 

The Power of Content

Strategic Content Services | RedShift Creative, Boston MA Content is everything your brand (personal or business) produces. Its one of your greatest assets and most cost-effective marketing vehicle for differentiating you in your industry and positioning you as a thought leader and trusted expert.

Content is one of the two most important success factors for businesses of all sizes. The other is community. If you want to expand your influence you need both.

What

  • Integrated WordPress system design and development for solo and creative professionals.
  • Coaching and facilitation to create and align content with objectives, brand, marketing and social business objectives, best practices and most importantly: authentic self-expression.
  • Content review, development and editing for search engine optimization (SEO).

Why?

  • Your analytics indicate that your content is not correctly optimized and your landing pages are not meeting visitor expectations.
  • Your existing web site feels dated, static and mis-aligned with your desired social business and content marketing direction.
  • Your separate web site, blog and social pages are increasingly difficult to manage or present an integrated view of your brand.
  • You don’t have the required resources to organize, categorize, manage and share online, your significant and sizable content assets.

Content created for social media and social business is nothing like traditional marketing, advertising, corporate or public relations campaign content because it doesn’t sell. It shares, serves and supports. For many businesses this means starting content initiatives from scratch. It requires acceptance of the ongoing and relentless:

  • Shift of power from sellers to buyers.
  • Shift of control of knowledge and information from management to end users.

It also requires great writing.

“Easy reading is damned hard writing.”
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Although beautiful design and graphics are valuable for making an immediate visual impression, they’re not what build relationships and community and they’re not what keep prospective clients and customers coming back. They’re not your message. Your story is your message.

The content bar is raised with social community and the shift to social business. Many businesses of all sizes are failing to meet the challenge or are getting bogged down in the content planning process and related change issues. But to ignore, delay or attempt to short-cut the path to content-marketing, now considered the most effective form, creates a serious long-term disadvantage.

The RedShift metaphor for deep and collaborative content development is the holon. Its an integral content strategy. All your content reflects how you and your organization show up in your communities: your differentiated brand, your message and voice, and the unique value that you provide.

Creative Program Fees: Fixed-Price, Fixed-Time Options

Short Program – 20 Hours – 2 Week Period – $2500
Long Program – 40 Hours – 4 Week Period – $4000
Order

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RedShift News

August 20, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · 1 Comment 

RedShift Web 2.0

I’ve recently made significant changes (yup – again!) to my web site and blog and it may be of interest to those of you who are starting a new business needing online content or who are thinking of bringing your existing site(s) to another level. I’ll try to explain in the simplest, non-technical language as possible.

I decided 2 weeks ago to migrate to WordPress and to self host my blog. I’d previously used TypePad, a blog service. I was so impressed with its capabilities, that I decided to integrate my web site and my blog, bringing them both together in one WordPress site. Not only is it more professional looking and integrated, but it also provides a greatly enhanced architecture for Web 2.0 trends and search engine optimization. On top of that, its easier to maintain, manage and update, and its cool and fun which I like to be. Its no longer a big deal to add additional functionality (calendars, forums, social networking….you name it) and the capabilities are extensive.

Custom web design and programming is expensive for solo’s and small business and often does not really serve the purpose of building community and relationships. On the other hand, standardized applications, developed specifically for Web 2.0, provide a pre-built structure for doing just that. When business owners don’t have to deal with the mechanics, they can focus on education, collaboration and relationship building – the things that keep people coming back for more. Another huge advantage is that WordPress sites are developed to maximize search engine placement.

Although I’ve resisted doing Web site work for clients in the past, I believe that these great new web tools, combined with my strategy, writing and coaching skills, allow me to offer “my kind” of creative program that provides clients real value for a very reasonable investment. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

I still have a few things on my new site to fix or complete. But I’m trying to adhere to a mantra that someone I respect recently posted: “better done than perfect”.

RedShift on Twitter

I’m now on Twitter and send out very short posts – information, ideas, inspiration. If you’d like to check it out, or if you’re interested in following me on Twitter, you can get my little snippets by email or on your cellphone. You may want to experiment with Twitter yourself. Like most Web 2.0, its very simple concept providing a lot of community development potential.

As always, thanks so much for your time, interest and feedback!

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Filed under: Markets, Natural influence, SEO/SEM, convergence, design, going solo, integral, self-expression, simplicity, social capital
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