This document provides best practices for content marketing targeted at small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). It discusses the importance of creating high-quality, engaging content and outlines strategies for different content types, including blogs, videos, infographics, press releases, and social media. It emphasizes automating content creation through a detailed content marketing calendar that plans promotional themes, events, and the publishing of various content pieces over time. The goal is to engage customers and drive traffic to business websites through a consistent, strategic content marketing approach.

1. Content Marketing Best
Practices for SMBs
by Nicole Munoz
Founder and CEO of Start Ranking Now, Inc.

2. About Start Ranking Now
• Got started in 2003 when I got my ecommerce site ranked #1 in Google
for “camping gear” where we stayed for over 5 years.
• Founded Start Ranking Now, Inc. in 2007 to help other small business
owners get top rankings in Google for their keywords
• Have helped over 150+ Clients
• Have generated over 2.1 Million USD in Revenue From Personal Websites
• Focus on SEO and Social Media Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Content
Marketing, Marketing Automation, and Email Marketing
• Speak at Conferences like SMX, SMSS, OMS, as well as internationally in
Latin America and starting in 2013 also in Europe.

3. Why Automation Is Important To Me!
• Mom of 7 Kids Ages 4-13
• Full-Time Missionary in Puebla,
Mexico since 2001

4. Let’s Get Started!

5. What is Content Marketing?

6. What is High Quality Content?

7. It is not (necessarily) ….
• Content written by Native English
Speakers
• 500+ Words of original content based on
your topic

8. Engagement = High Quality

9. Quality Score of Your Site Determines if
High Quality
• Time on Page
• Bounce Rate
• Page Depth

10. Do’s and Don’ts

11. Do
• Create high quality content written by
native English speakers.

12. Do
• Create content that solves a problem or
offers a solution.

13. Do
• Create content that people will want to
read, like, and share.

14. Do
• Use a variety of content for your
marketing strategy.

15. Do
• Determine WHO you are writing to and
create custom content for them.
(PERSONAS)

16. Do
• Write out the top questions your
customers ask and create content that
answers those questions.

17. Do
• Publish content on high traffic sites.

18. Do
• Promote your content after you create and
publish it.

19. Do
• Use Google+ and link your content to your
Google+.

20. Do
• Always have a call to action

21. Don’t
• Don’t “Spin” articles and publish multiple
versions to many different sites.

22. Don’t
• Don’t post “guest blog posts” on websites
whose only purpose is to publish “guest
blog posts”.

23. Don’t
• Don’t post “unique articles” on web 2.0
sites that only link to your money site and
have no other purpose except to pass link
authority.

24. Content Types
1. Blogs
2. Videos
3. Infographics
4. Mobile
5. Audio
6. Photos
7. Charts
8. Social Content

25. Go Where The Traffic Is!
• Amazon Kindle
• Youtube
• News Sites via Press Releases
• Google+
• High Traffic Blogs
• High Quality Directories
• Websites via Infographics
• Image Search on Google

26. Amazon Kindle Best Practices
• Create an eBook and give it away for free.

27. Amazon Kindle Best Practices
• Create a ebook and give it away for free.
• Have a great graphic design.

28. Amazon Kindle Best Practices
• Create a ebook and give it away for free.
• Have a great graphic design.
• Headline of book should focus on Results
+ Time. For example: ”Overnight
Authority. How to Write a Book
in a Weekend.”

29. Amazon Kindle Best Practices
• Headline of book should
focus on Results + Time. For
example: Overnight
Authority. How to Write a
Book in a Weekend
• Ebook should have an offer
at the end to drive people to
your site. For example,
offer more videos, or a free
consultation.

30. Youtube/Vimeo Best Practices
• Videos should be informational,
instructional, or entertaining.
• Tell a story in your videos. Make your
customers your hero.

31. YouTube/Vimeo Best Practices
• Use the YouTube keyword research tool to find keywords for
YouTube.
• Use keywords in the title and descriptions of the videos.

32. Youtube/Vimeo Best Practices
• Title of video is just like a headline of a
blog post. It needs to be compelling
enough so people will want to click on the
video to watch it.

33. Youtube/Vimeo Best Practices
• Embed your videos on your blogs for
“Video Blog Posts”
• Promote your YouTube videos just like
other content.
• Videos should be 1-3 minutes long

34. Google+ Hangouts Best Practices
1. Create a hangout and record it.
2. Slice it up into small videos of 1-3
minutes each and post to YouTube!

35. Guest Blog Posts Best Practices
• Make sure that the sites that will guest
your posts have good Page Rank and
Alexa rank and also that the topic matches
with your market niche.

36. Guest Blog Posts Best Practices
• Make sure that the sites that will guest
your posts have good Page Rank and
Alexa rank and also that the topic matches
with your market niche
• Choose sites with comments,
likes and shares!

37. Guest Blog Posts Best Practices
• Make sure that the sites that will guest
your posts have good Page Rank and
Alexa rank and also that the topic matches
with your market niche
• Choose sites with comments, likes and
shares!
• Find real sites doing research:
Keyword + Submit a Guest Blog
Post

38. Guest Blog Posts Best Practices
• Make sure that the sites that will guest your posts
have good Page Rank and Alexa rank and also
that the topic matches with your market niche
• Choose sites with comments, likes and shares!
• Find real sites doing research: Keyword + Submit
a Guest Blog Post
• Find 2-4 high traffic, high quality sites, and start
by submitting content to those sites on a regular
basis. Promote your posts and reciprocal link
them with your G+ account.
• After posting 5-6 blog posts,
evaluate traffic to site

39. Press Releases Best Practices
• Capture the Key Problem, Benefit, and
Audience in your heading and sub-
heading.

40. Press Releases Best Practices
• Capture the Key Problem, Benefit, and
Audience in your heading and sub-
heading.
• Always Include a Quote

41. Press Releases Best Practices
• Capture the Key Problem, Benefit, and
Audience in your heading and sub-
heading.
• Always Include a Quote
• Submit on PR Web or PR Newswire

42. Directories Best Practices
• Submit to high quality directories like BBB
and Local Chamber of Commerce.
• Look for business associations /
organizations in your local area that have
high quality websites with a
directory of their members and join.

43. Infographics Best Practices
• Use it to explain a process, benefits of
using a product or how something works.

44. Infographics Best Practices
• Use it to explain a process, benefits of
using a product or how something works.
• Have 5-7 Main Points

45. Infographics Best Practices
• Use it to explain a process, benefits of
using a product or how something works.
• Have 5-7 Main Points
• Share your infographics in Social Media
and invite people to share
and like.

46. Google+ Best Practices
• Use Google+ as a Micro Blogging Site.

47. Google+ Best Practices
• Use Google+ as a Micro Blogging Site.
• Share your content and promote to your
circles.

48. Google+ Best Practices
• Use Google+ as a Micro Blogging Site.
• Share your content and promote to your
circles.
• Post original content

49. Images Best Practices
• Use a keyword in the file name

50. Images Best Practices
• Use a keyword in the file name
• Use a keyword in the alt text

51. Images Best Practices
• Use a keyword in the file name
• Use a keyword in the alt text
• Don’t overuse same keywords

52. Slideshare.net
• Share your ppts, pdfs, videos, articles
• Always have a call to action
• These are subtle sales presentations!

53. Content Marketing Calendar

54. Who Needs a Content Calendar?
• Community Managers

55. Who Needs a Content Calendar?
• Community Managers
• Social Media Managers

56. Who Needs a Content Calendar?
• Community Managers
• Social Media Managers
• Content Marketing Manager

57. Who Needs a Content Calendar?
• Community Managers
• Social Media Managers
• Content Marketing Manager
• Small Business Owners

58. Our Challenges
• Departments lack communication

59. Our Challenges
• Departments lack communication
• Requests to come up with content at the
last minute to support a promotion

60. Our Challenges
• Departments lack communication
• Requests to come up with content at the
last minute to support a promotion
• No time!

61. Challenge: Managing Many
Content Types
 Blog posts
 Newsletters
 Curated content
 Videos
 Case studies
 White papers
 E-books
 Press releases
 Live/ online events
 Online advertisement campaigns
 Contests

62. Planning a content marketing
calendar

63. Grab Your Content Calendar
Template
• www.StartRankingNow.com/contentcalendar

64. Monthly Theme
• Focus on one specific area of your business
• Ecommerce – Focus on a specific category of
products (Tents, Coolers)
• Ecommerce – Focus on a specific use (camping,
hiking, fishing)
• Service – Focus on a specific service or result
(Email Marketing, Build Your List)

65. Monthly Theme
• Expert – If building a
program, focus on the
problems that will pre-
sell your next course
• Corporations – Market
Segments (Each
month focus on a
different persona)
• Your ideas?

66. Holiday Themes
• Map out holidays for each week
• Think of what could be tied in to a
promotion
• Can do non-holiday promotions like Winter
in July Special

67. Key Dates and Events
• What events are going on in your business
• Tradeshows, Speaking Events, Radio
Spots, TV Spots, Magazine Ads
• Events in your community
that can tie in to a
promotion

68. Sales Promotions
• Have one per week (Ideal)
• Think of what products you can tie sales
message into each month
• Ask your sales department, when demand is
highest and lowest for specific
products
• Ask customer service what
products have highest returns
(Don’t promote these!)

69. Sales Promotions
• Come up with an idea or theme to tie into
the product you are selling.
• Can plan your content marketing calendar
in detail each quarter.
• Work with entire team to brainstorm and
plan out.
• Any promotion is better
than no promotion.

70. Website Messaging
• The text that your web developer will put
on the graphics that promote your sales
promotion.
• The messaging goes on the home page of
the site, on FB, on Twitter, on Youtube,
everywhere.

71. Special Events and Sponsorships
• Put sponsorships here
• Business Rockstars (We are sponsoring 5
young entrepreneurs with 5 websites!)
• Try to do one sponsorship per quarter.
Actively look and seek out. Have a
sponsorship budget.
• Product you give away
ties in to your monthly
promotion.

72. Press Releases
• Look at events and sponsorships first.
• Be newsworthy.
• What people are interested in. New
product line (who cares?)
• Do one or more per month.
• Schedule the week you are
going to do the Press
Release.

73. Contest Giveaway
• Contests are great ways to grow your list,
fans, and followers
• Have a monthly or quarterly contest.
• Plan out a different week
than your press release.

74. Testimonial Story
• Survey your past customers to find
happy customers. Focus on your
monthly product or promotion.
• Tell them you want to “interview”
them.
• Be aware of legal and privacy issues.
• Your interview can be written or via
phone.
• Schedule the testimonial to go live

75. Reputation Management
• Write up content focused on your brand
and brand name
• Review your existing properties to see if
they need to be updated.
• Schedule at least quarterly.

76. Industry Conferences and
Tradeshows
• Even if not attending, put on calendar so
you are aware of them.
• Can have a special for “Attendees of” even
if you are not there. Promote the special
virtually.

77. Keywords
• Based on products, add in 3-10 different
primary keywords to focus on each week.
• These keywords should be used in the
headlines of content,
headlines of press releases,
headlines of videos, etc.

78. Blog Posts
• High Quality is much better than quantity
• Once a week at minimum
• Create content people will love, like, and
share
• Blog posts should tie in to monthly
promotion.
• Put in titles of weekly blog posts.
Can always create more.

79. Guest Blog Posts
• Create strategic partnerships with complementary
websites
• Offer monthly content.
• Better to be a Lead Blogger or Guest Blogger on
one main blog, than get 20 posts on 20 blogs.
• Schedule your Guest Blog
Posts, write out headlines for
guest blog posts based on
monthly themes and promotions.

80. Kindle Marketing
• Repurpose Content and publish on Kindle
• Compile Monthly Blog posts, transcribe a
webinar
• Have a call to action to get additional
content from your website
• This is the new lead generation strategy
• Won’t last forever!

81. Facebook Marketing
• People love photos
• What kinds of funny or interesting photos
could you post?
• What messaging could you add in to your FB
photos. Think like an advertiser.
• Facebook Contest for Likes
• New Tab or Content Area on Facebook
• Schedule out which week you will focus on
FB.

82. Twitter Marketing
• Schedule out which week you will focus on
Twitter.
• Look at Twitter Lists
• Look at Most Popular Content
• Contest to increase fans
• Stream down the list of people you follow.

83. LinkedIn Marketing
• Schedule out which week you will focus
on.
• Create headline of email to send to your
LinkedIn contacts
• What content do the groups like to
promote

84. Slideshare.net
• Schedule out what week to focus on
• Create a sales ppt to promote your
monthly promotion
• Have a call to action to come back to site
for more content
• Can add video, docs, pdfs as well!

85. Video Marketing
• Schedule once a month at a minimum.
• Determine headline of video
• Map out content to include
• Focus on monthly theme

86. Your calendar will be different!
• Items included in your content marketing calendar will
be different than ours.
• Map out all of the things you are doing in your
business.
• Schedule out when you will focus on getting each
piece of your marketing published.
• Spread things out so they are not all due at the same
time.

87. Email Marketing Content Calendar
• Plan out your daily or weekly themes for
your emails
• Set aside partner promotions

88. Map Out Blog Content
Weekly
Theme

89. Thank You!
Nicole Munoz
www.NicoleMunoz.com
Fb.com/nicolemunozfan
@nicolemunoz
Start Ranking Now Inc.
www.StartRankingNow.com
FB.com/startrankingnow
@startrankingnow

90. Grab the Slides…
www.StartRankingNow.com/smbs