FREE 2017 CONTENT CALENDAR TEMPLATE (DOWNLOADABLE)
Last year, one of our most popular blog posts was our free 2016 content calendar via Google Sheets, complete with sections for your social media posts so that you could plan out your whole year of content marketing. In that spirit, we’ve updated the calendar and once again it’s free to download and use at your discretion.
How to use this content calendar template:
- If you can open it, then it’s saved onto your Google drive. To save your own copy that you can edit, simply go to File –> Make a copy to have your own. There is no need to request us for access to use the sheet. Repeat: There is no need to request us for access to use the sheet!
- Navigate the months using the tabs at the bottom of the screen.
- US Federal holidays are highlighted in blue. Weekends are highlighted in pink. Just so you don’t mistakenly schedule a blog post for the weekend.
- Key dates for the months are listed in Column C-D. We deliberately added a generous helping of silly days (hello, Barbie Day on March 9), famous birthdays and today-in-history entries for the occasional moment when we run out of clever things to say on social media. You can change these of course to the type of content that makes sense for you.
- This calendar was completed within the last few days. Obviously a lot of things can happen between now and 2017. We encourage you to check other sources in case you’re building campaigns around sports and other special event dates.
Ready to plan out your year?
Download our exclusive 2017 Content Calendar Template
Plan out your entire year in one place.
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GLOBE RUNNER CEO ERIC MCGEHEARTY APPEARS ON PLAYMAKERS TALK SHOW
PlayMakers Talk Show
We are thrilled to announce our very own CEO of Globe Runner Eric McGehearty will be joining PlayMakers Talk Show on 770 KAAM this Friday, September 30 at 3 pm.
Be sure to tune in! If you miss the Friday show, don’t worry because there will be an Encore Presentation on Saturday at 2 pm.
For those who don’t know, Eric is an entrepreneur and thought leader. His writings on business and entrepreneurship have been published in Forbes, Octane Magazine, and Yahoo Small Business Advisor.
In is not so “free time” he is a nationally recognized artist showing in galleries, museums, and public spaces. His sculpture in Fort Worth was recognized by America for the Arts as one of the top 40 pieces in 2007.
Eric is also the co-founder of the non-profit Stand UP LD a support network for parents and educators seeking resources to support and inspire children with learning differences.
Play below to listen to a promo for the show!
MICRO-MOMENTS: BREAKING DOWN ‘I-WANT-TO-BUY’ MOMENTS
Micro-moments are the small instances each day when someone uses a mobile device to quickly search for a bit of desired information. One type of moment, called an “I-want-to-buy” moment, centers around using internet searches to help with purchasing decisions. These moments present a massive opportunity for companies looking to attract buyers.
‘I-Want-To-Buy’ Moments Defined
An “I-want-to-buy” moment is any instance when you search for information to help with a purchase. This can include both on-the-spot purchases (like which brand of cologne to buy during a shopping trip) and large investments (such as buying a house).
These moments are often spread throughout the day, made either before a shopping excursion, while in the store, or over the course of days, weeks, or months prior to a large purchase. The one thing all these instances have in common, however, is the fact that they usually result in a purchase.
The following scenario breaks down what actually happens in these moments.
Scenario
Let’s suppose Doug is out on a grocery trip during which he intends to buy something to help with his athlete’s foot. He finds the foot cream section in the store and notices a wide variety of different brands, the prices of which range from around $6 (for a 10oz generic brand) to $60 (for a 4oz name brand).
How does Doug decide? He certainly doesn’t want to spend $60 on a small tube of foot cream, but what if the cheaper brands don’t work at all? He does a quick search for reviews on his phone to help him choose a brand.
Making the Most of the Moment
Doug’s not going to sit there forever sifting through content, so if you’re in the foot cream business, you need to provide content he can find and digest quickly. Creating this kind of content involves planning and online marketing savvy. During the process, consider what your audience needs to know prior to making purchasing decisions. Well-executed content will draw customers during these moments.
For additional help with “I-want-to-buy” moments, contact us at Accelerate Online Marketing today.
MICRO-MOMENTS: BREAKING DOWN ‘I-WANT-TO-DO’ MOMENTS
Mobile devices, and especially smartphones, have revolutionized the way we use the internet. Online searches are now faster and more focused than ever before, often taking only a minute or two. Being able to provide what users are looking for in a quick, digestible manner is the core of online marketing today.
The brief moments people spend online are referred to as “micro-moments.” Google has divided these into four categories, one of which is “I-want-to-do” moments.
‘I-Want-To-Do’ Moments Defined
One of the reasons why people go online is to learn how to do something. The time they spend online researching how to perform various tasks is concentrated and brief, so to fulfill their needs (and increase the odds that they’ll come to your brand), you need to make sure the content you publish online is designed to quickly provide what people are looking for.
Scenario
To break down “I-want-to-do” moments, let’s look at a common scenario. Suppose Penelope has spotted a bit of mold in the sink that grew over the past week while her roommate’s dishes were sitting there unwashed. She knows that mold is difficult to remove, but she’s not sure what to do about it.
So she pulls out her smartphone and does a quick search for “how to remove mold.” She doesn’t have much time to spend researching this, so she’s likely to go with the first promising-looking result that comes up.
Making the Most of the Moment
Most of us know that mold is pretty difficult to remove, generally requiring certain chemicals. But who’s going to let Penelope know what she needs? If your content is well designed, it will be you. To satisfy her need in this moment, your content should:
1. Be optimized for search engines so it comes up high on the list.
2. Provide answers quickly in a digestible, easy to navigate format.
3. Give complete, reliable information.
The challenge is doing all this in one piece. Our skilled digital marketing experts in Dallas can help you there. Contact Accelerate Online Marketing for help working with “I-want-to-do” moments today.
Managing Your Online Reputation
Online reputation is an important aspect for not only large enterprises, but small businesses as well, and it’s an area that’s often neglected. So the question is, how can you improve your online reputation, or even establish one if you don’t already have it?
Some of the basics that can help you get your name out there are your Facebook page, your website, and Google Plus page, to name a few. But how can we get positive reviews and customers raving about our business?
That’s what digital reputation is about: getting customers to give you five-star reviews. Of course, it’s essential to have a good service/product, but that doesn’t seem to be enough these days. We have to ask our customers appropriately to give us feedback and reviews.
There’s a lot of different ways you can go about doing this, but we have come up with a system that really works and is effective: We don’t ask our customers to give us reviews. Now, that may be counter-intuitive, but that’s not what I’m going to lead with. As soon as a customer comes to my store or I go to their location to provide a service, I don’t automatically ask them to review my performance. Frankly, a lot of customers are turned off by that and they don’t think they would benefit from it.
So instead, I ask them for their feedback. Feedback doesn’t have a positive spin to it. It could be negative or positive, and it urges the customer to give their honest opinion. That’s the differentiator. Asking for feedback rather than reviews. I don’t want that feedback to go on the web because I don’t know if what my customer will say will be positive or negative. So we take that feedback internally and we have a system that allows us to decide whether or not that feedback was positive, negative, or neutral.
If the feedback was negative, we need to put that into a customer service group where they get an apology e-mail, and once that has been sent out, an actual customer service rep will call them asking them how we can best resolve the situation. That way, we catch them before they have time to get angry, go on yelp or any other review site, and write something negative about our establishment.
Once we resolve all of the issues with the negative feedbacks, we look at the positive and neutral ones. For the neutral ones, you can decide if you want to reach out to them or not. The ones that have great, positive things to say are the ones that get a follow-up e-mail thanking them and requesting them to share their positive feedback on their social media accounts, our Google Plus, or Yelp pages.
Depending on the industry, you can pick which social media and review platform works best. This way, I’m controlling my digital reputation. I’m not artificially inflating who I am. I’m handling customer feedback by asking the ones who have great things to say about my business to promote those things publicly.
MICRO-MOMENTS: BREAKING DOWN ‘I-WANT-TO-GO’ MOMENTS
When you want to go somewhere, such as to eat or to find something you need for a project, that’s what Google defines as ‘I-want-to-go’ moments. Finding places to go has become a massive function of online searches, so being able to take advantage of those moments is vital to attracting customers.
‘I-Want-To-Go’ Moments Defined
In many instances, ‘I-want-to-go’ moments involve “near me” searches. In other words, someone might search for “restaurants near me” or “hardware stores near me.” By and large, these searches are more generic than specific, so very few people are going to be looking for your brand. Instead, they’ll be interested in whoever is closest who can satisfy their needs.
A Scenario
Let’s take an example. Suppose Mr. Jim has a hankering for some waffles one Saturday morning. He also kind of wants to eat out rather than fix them himself. He pulls out his phone, and he asks Siri to search for “waffles near me.”
If you serve waffles, you want to make absolutely sure your restaurant comes up on that list. If it doesn’t, Mr. Jim is not paying you a visit. If it does come up, and if your site presents the quick message that your waffles are more amazing than anything ever (or if they at least look appetizing enough that Mr. Jim’s stomach screams “WANT!” to his brain), he’s likely going to visit you ASAP.
Making the Most of the Moment
To make the most of these ‘I-want-to-go’ moments, you need to remember a few things. These are:
- As stated, most “near me” searches are for generic keywords, not specific brands.
- Customer loyalty is nowhere near as important in these searches as convenience and instant satisfaction.
- Half of those who conduct these searches will visit the store within 24 hours.
- Roughly one out of five “near me” searches results in a purchase.
So the question now is whether your brand has the online presence needed to come up on “near me” searches. If you want help establishing that presence, contact our team of Digital Marketing Rockstars at Accelerate Online Marketing.
MICRO-MOMENTS: BREAKING DOWN ‘I-WANT-TO-KNOW’ MOMENTS
Recent research conducted by Google has shown that people are no longer going online for extended sessions of research. Instead, their internet usage is described as ‘micro-moments,’ or quick instances of online activity in which they actively search for specific information.
‘I-Want-To-Know’ Moments Defined
Some of these instances are called ‘I-want-to-know’ moments. In these moments, a person uses a device to search for answers to questions, whether out of a desire to make a better decision or simply for curiosity’s sake. These moments might be broken down as follows.
A Scenario
Suppose you’re relaxing for the evening in front of your TV. A commercial comes on, and it makes some astronomical claims about a product’s capabilities. You don’t really feel like you need the product itself, but if it’s all it claims to be, it might be worth looking into. And after all, you kind of wonder if it actually does everything the commercial says it does.
So you reach for your phone and ask Siri to pull up some reviews. That moment is when your question needs to be answered, and you’ll probably stick with whatever information you find—positive or negative.
Making the Most of the Moment
If the company is smart, they’ve probably published some content about their product that will work within this moment. The response they tailor for the question you have (something like “Is this thing legit?”) needs to have these qualities:
- It must be concise and quickly digestible.
- It must have a genuine tone that is consistent with the company’s other advertising.
- It should be informative. If it provides no value in the first few seconds, it will likely go ignored.
- It should be optimized for search engines so it ranks high on the list.
A wise company will have incorporated content onto their site that will provide the answers you are looking for. Those answers will be quick, succinct, and informative.
Now, if you’re a company looking to make the most of ‘I-want-to-know’ moments, internet marketing services like Accelerate Online Marketing can assist you, so contact us today.
VIDEO: A/B TESTING
I want to talk to you today about A/B Testing and always keeping your website up-to-date. So, when we look at web design, I have a lot of clients that, in the past, have not really messed with their website much for maybe a few years. They have it designed, they spent a lot of money with an agency, and then leave it alone for two, three, or maybe more, maybe 5, 6 years, and they really don’t significantly change it.
So what happens is they get up to date with technology and then it stays stagnant and technology keeps going upwards. Finally, they jump up and are in line with the rest of the world.
Mobile Responsive Design is probably the most recent example of a website update that a lot of people didn’t do immediately and now everyone is finally catching up to it. But what if we thought about it a different way, and let’s take the best in-breed companies, and I’ll have you think about Amazon right now. So amazon.com, can you remember a time when they made a radical update to their website layout and changed it completely? No, because they haven’t done it.
Their website instead has improved in small increments literally on a daily basis. Now, that company and their entire business is based on their website so they do it all the time, but even if we made small incremental changes on a weekly or monthly basis, the website can stay up-to-date and current without having to have a radical design change.
One of the other challenges with radical design change is if you have a successful site and you completely change it, sometimes you throw the baby out with the bad water.
I’ve seen sites that have maybe a somewhat ugly design, but they work. They get it redesigned and suddenly they don’t perform as well. Instead, if you implement an A/B test on a regular basis to determine if a small change will improve or decrease performance, and then only implement winners, you’re constantly enhancing your site rather than taking two steps forwards or one step back.
.BEST VS .COM SPONSORED STUDY: WHICH DOMAIN IS KING?
With over 100 million .COM names registered (and counting) some businesses are finding it exceedingly difficult and more expensive to find competitive edge in SEO and SEM.
With most meaningful .COMs taken, businesses are spending more to drive traffic to their domains.
Our team wanted to research how keyword-rich new gTLD domain names affected the SEM value of an online property. In other words, would naming a domain with a new gTLD (in this case, .BEST) rather than the traditional .COM have a positive statistical impact on a website?
Based on our testing and research of a series of domains on Google throughout May 2016 (testing which included hundreds of keywords and thousands of impressions), Globe Runner arrived at the conclusion that the .BEST domain conferred a tangible benefit over the .COM domain in online advertising efforts.
As pictured below, utilizing a .BEST domain boosted results both in cost and clicks.
Our research shows that you can save money and reduce your cost per lead by using one of the new gTLD domain names.
Particularly in the moving industry, the .BEST domain name allowed us to save dollars-per-click within Google AdWords. In the long-term, after thousands of clicks, this price difference would make for significant savings.
If you’d like to know more about the sponsored study, download our report and compare the results between .Best and .Com domains.
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