Shawn ManaherInbound marketing is all about paying it forward and offering your market something useful. A good way to do this is to offer a free ebook download that people can exchange their information for. The concept is simple enough, but coming up with things to write about can be a daunting task. This post is meant to show you all of the different potential topics you can use to make content that your market might find beneficial.
You can take any one of these ideas and create an ebook on it. Some topics may be harder to come up with content for than others, and you may not have the expertise to write on all of them. You can definitely draw inspiration from the list, though.
Categories
Analytics
Popular Tracking Platforms for Your Website
There are a lot of different tracking platforms available for websites besides Google Analytics. You can write a pretty interesting comparison piece on what those are, their prices, their pros and cons, etc.
How to Install Analytics on a Website
Even though Google has a lot of documentation on this already, sometimes it helps coming from another source. You can delight your audience by providing useful information on how to install Google Analytics either manually, or via a CMS plugin.
Best Practices for Google Analytics Account Configuration
Even though Google has one of the most powerful, user-friendly and free platforms on the market for web tracking, people generally have little knowledge on how to use it. You can help them out by providing an ebook on the best ways to configure profiles, set up filters and goals, and do other common configuration tasks.
Resources for Learning About Analytics Platforms
You might be great at Google Analytics and know everything there is to know about it, but pointing people to other resources is always helpful. Provide a list of other places online where people can get instruction on the platform. Google’s Conversion University is a good one to start with.
Linking other Google Products to Google Analytics
Google account relationships are pretty flexible, and many services can share information by default. Bring attention to those that you can link together (such as webmaster tools, Analytics and AdWords) and how that can be beneficial to web marketing work.
Key Metrics You Should Be Watching
As mentioned before, Google’s Analytics platform can be easy to use, but many suffer from data paralysis. That happens when there is so much information to look at and no clear understanding of how to use it. Give people tips on basic reports they can look at to make sure their website is doing ok.
Customizing Your Tracking
Along with all the other great things about Analytics, it’s also very flexible in terms of configuration. This is a more advanced topic, so you may have to research it a little if you don’t already know how to customize tracking code. Your audience will love you for the useful information, though.
Tracking Specific Interactions on Your Website
Once people have a handle on all the basic things tracking platforms can do, give them ideas on specific things they can track. For example, maybe they want to see video views, downloads, purchases or some other special action.
Setting Up a Basic Conversion Funnel
Conversion funnels are important for online sales and lead generation. They are often very simple to configure, but people may not know a lot about them. Give a basic overview on how to set up a conversion funnel with best practices and things to watch out for.
Measuring Social Engagement
Social has become an important part of online business. Many tracking platforms have new reports that show social engagement metrics like comments, likes, plus ones, etc. Give an overview on how to interpret such reports, how to configure various or specific platforms to track social interactions and how to define and recognize success.
Tracking Your ROI
Return on investment is an important measurement for any online business activity. You and your audience want to know if your efforts are paying off (literally). Write an ebook on the elements necessary for determining return on investment and how to calculate it.
Developing Business Goals to Track in Analytics
As mentioned before, people can often suffer from data paralysis. The shear amount of data produced by many analytics platforms is staggering. That’s a good thing, but these tools work much better when the people using them have clear goals they want to reach. Help your audience define their business goals and talk about how Analytics can help them achieve those goals.
Using Goals in Google Analytics
Goals in Google Analytics are different than the goals described above. These are features that users can configure to track when specific interactions happen on their websites. Write a piece on how goals are beneficial, how to configure them and how to interpret reports.
Writing Customized Tracking Code for Google Analytics
Using Google’s API and some JavaScript knowledge, you can write customized code snippets to track things like keyword ranking in Google. This is another topic that will require some homework, but if your audience likes knowledge like this, they will thank you for it. You don’t have to be a programming wizard, either. Posts of others like Justin Cutroni’s can either give you inspiration, or you can reference them in your own posts.
Using Google Analytics With AdWords
Teach your audience how to import data from AdWords into Google Analytics. AdWords has its own data that it collects, but you can get a deeper view of how your ads are performing by pulling the data into Analytics.
Setting up Filters in Google Analytics
Delve deeper into this feature and tell people how to set up filters properly in Google Analytics. This is often a misunderstood feature of analytics, and many marketers use it improperly.
Ecommerce Tracking for Google Analytics
Ecommerce tracking is a whole other animal for Google’s tracking platform. It’s one thing to look at visitors and their behaviors, and quite another to track monetary transactions. You could even spread this topic out over a couple different beginner and advanced ebooks.
Tracking Activity on Social Media with Analytics Platforms
Marketers are increasingly interested in finding ways to track ROI from social media interactions. Show them how to use reports available in Google’s platform as well as other tracking-software programs.
Interpreting Reports
Data in analytics reports may seem pretty straightforward, but it can be confusing. Write a basic overview for people on how to interpret basic reports in analytical platforms. This can be as simple as answering questions like, “what does bounce rate mean,” “what is the difference between pageviews and unique pageviews” or “what does ‘keyword not set’ mean?”
Blogging
The Benefits of Blogging
Share either your personal benefits or those that you have learned from others about blogging. This could be from a personal blog that you’ve monetized, a business blog or some other kind of publication hosted online that you contribute to.
How to Set Up a Blog
Give advice on how to set up a blog. This is a very versatile and in-depth topic. For example, you could go into great detail on one platform or process, or you could give a broad overview of many different options.
How to Come up With Content for Your Blog
Come up with tips on where to look for content for blogging. Think creatively here. Come up with ideas for your audience to tap their own unique industries and spheres of influence to come up with a constant stream of content.
How to Leverage Your Blog for Business
Provide ideas on how to drive business using blog posts. You might give examples of others who have been successful at creating conversions using content on a blog. Talk about using calls to action, interlinking blog posts with product pages of a website and presenting offers that are similar to the content of posts.
Best Practices for Configuring Blog Posts
Give an overview of best practices for configuring blog posts. Show people how to use headers, images, links, and other elements in a way that makes posts easier for visitors to use and navigate.
How to Promote Your Blog
Promoting a blog can be an ambiguous task. Show examples of people who do a good job of promoting their blogs. You could also provide tips on blog promotion that have worked for you or your clients.
How to Rank Your Blog Posts Well in Search
Many businesses and individuals start blogs in order to promote their websites. Show people how to best configure their posts to rank well in search.
How to Get Links for Your Blog
Links are an important part of search engine optimization. Of all tactics related to SEO, links are quite possibly one of the most mysterious and most difficult to accomplish. Give people tips on how to get links for their blog.
Step-by-Step for Setting up a WordPress Blog
WordPress is by far one of the most popular content management systems on the market. Setting up a self-hosted WordPress site is pretty simple, but it requires guidance. Show your audience how to arrange hosting, get free software for the setup, and configure their new WordPress site.
Step-by-Step for Setting up a Joomla Blog
Joomla is another popular CMS. While not a lot of people are using this for blogging, it remains an option. You can show people how to set up a blog on this platform, as well.
Step-by-Step for Setting up a Drupal Blog
A lot of bloggers use Drupal sites instead of Joomla or WordPress. Give people a step-by-step guide on how to set up a blog on the Drupal platform.
Onsite vs Offsite Blogging
When starting a blog, you can attach it to your existing domain or start one in the cloud. An ebook explaining the pros and cons of each approach could be very valuable to someone just starting out.
How to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog
Teach your audience how to get more visitors to their blogs. Tactics like being active on social media, paid advertising and SEO can help get more exposure for your content.
How to Incorporate Your Blog Into an Existing Website
Websites can be constructed in a variety of different ways. Show people different ways to build a blog onto their existing site. For instance, you could give examples of adding a blog to a customized site, a CMS, a site hosted in the cloud, etc.
How to Create Buyer Personas
Buyer personas are a great way to visualize your audience. You can compose an ebook on how to go about developing buyer personas.
How to Research Your Audience
Marketers know they need to understand their audience, but they don’t always know how to get that information. Provide tips on how to go about researching a target market such as interviews, mining customer data or surveys.
Awesome Plugins for WordPress Blogs
There are a lot of really cool plugins for WordPress. Do an ebook on some of the most useful or most popular plugins.
How to Develop an Editorial Process
Blogging on a regular basis is a difficult thing to maintain. If you have a good editorial process, though, the whole endeavor can be a little easier. Talk about how to develop an efficient editorial process for blogging.
Incorporating Social Media Into Your Blogging Strategy
Blogs are meant to be interactive. Show your audience how commenting plugins, social sharing plugins or add-ons that do the same can help enhance their blog.
Tips for Blogging Success
If you run a blog yourself, share your own experiences of success with your readers. Alternatively, you could put together a best-practice guide on how people can have success with blogging.
Proper Search Engine Optimization of Your Blog Posts
Give an overview of best practices for optimizing blog posts. This could include things like keyword focus, linking, length, and architecture of the post page, among other factors.
Doing Keyword Research for Your Blog
Not every post needs to rank for something specific, but some should. Teach your audience how to do keyword research properly, and show them the tools to do it with.
Stats on Blogging
Offer statistics on why blogging is important for business. Link to research, data or other information that supports your argument. If you have firsthand data from your own blog, that is even better.
Tips for Monetizing Your Blog
Not all blogs are attached to businesses, but you may still want to try and make money of it. Show your readers how to monetize a blog using popular platforms like AdSense.
Tips for Getting More Subscribers to Your Blog
One of the main goals for any blogging endeavor is to get subscribers. Show people tips on how to get more followers on their blog.
How to Start a Business Blog
There are a lot of steps that go into starting a blog specifically for business. Show your readers what those are and give them a good step-by-step plan on how to get started blogging for business.
Calls to Action
What Is a Call to Action?
Give a basic overview of what a call to action is, where they are seen, and examples of calls to action.
How to Use a Call to Action Effectively
Write an ebook on how to use a call to action effectively. For instance, how to use them effectively on landing pages, in emails, or in blog posts.
Examples of Effective Calls to Action
Provide real-world examples of calls to action used by prominent companies. You could go the extra step here and find some real data on calls to action.
Making a Call-to-Action Template
Make different templates for different scenarios that your audience can use to easily make calls to action.
Assigning Calls to Action to Your Buyer Personas
Sometimes a company may have different markets that they serve. Talk about creating calls to action for the different buyers that they have.
CTAs That Convert
Write an ebook on calls to action that convert well. You might find secondary research somewhere on the best calls to action to use for various scenarios.
Content Creation
How to Create an Editorial Calendar
Editorial calendars help bloggers stay organized and create content on a consistent basis. Show people how to make an editorial calendar using excel.
Where to Look for Good Content
This could be a list of tips where people can look for content ideas. Give tips related to your audience’s business for where they can find a constant stream of content.
Tips for Doing Primary Research
Primary research is research you compile yourself. Show people how to get primary research. For example, instead of gleaning information from someplace online, show them how to get it by interviewing customers, recording data, etc.
Content Categories and how to Use Them
Show your audience how to group their content into different categories. You could also include tips on how to effectively use content categories on a website.
How to Create Great Content When You Can’t Do it Yourself
It’s common for people to not have the time, energy or talent to create content
themselves. Offer tips like hiring writing or video making services, buying content or other strategies for content creation.
How to Know What Content Your Target Market Likes
For this ebook, you can talk about how to find out what a target market likes in terms of content. This could be both the mode of content (i.e. blog posts, white papers, videos, etc) and the genre (i.e. how to, news piece, etc).
The Necessary Tools for Content Creation
Talk about tools for creating content. You might segment these into free and paid programs. For instance, Gimp is a free image editing program.
Getting Past Writers Block
Offer some tips on how to get past writers block. For example, taking a break, reading a novel, brainstorming or similar behaviors.
A Guide on the Different Types of Content for Marketing
Give readers a comprehensive guide on the various types of content marketing and how they can be applied.
Tips for What Kind of Content Attracts People
The content here will depend on your audience’s industry, but there are certain themes that are typically crowd pleasers. For instance, Internet memes are a good form of content to share.
Resources That Will Give You a Constant Stream of Good Content
Here, you can show your audience how to find resources that will supply them with a constant stream of content. For example, you might use old newsletters, stories from your sales staff, or information from industry trade shows you attend.
Choosing Genres That Will Resonate With Your Audience
Depending on the industry, some genres of content resonate better than others. For example B2B companies may have better luck blogging about industry trends than how-to topics.
Tips for Creating Expert Content
Some businesses cater to highly educated markets. Providing content that comes from experts in their fields helps bolster a brand’s image. Give your audience tips on how to get that expert content.
Repurposing Your Content to Extend its Lifespan
Give tips on how to reuse content for other purposes. You might tell people they can transcribe videos into blog posts. They can use ebooks as blog post as long as they haven’t been indexed.
How to Leverage Others to Create Content for You
Sometimes it’s better coming right from the horse’s mouth. Get others who have more clout with your target market to help you create content. For instance, having salespeople in the field blog about things they know helps get different points of view.
Finding Content in Unlikely Places
Think of creative places that you can suggest for your audience to find content. Share industry knowledge from an event that you attended.
Share Industry Knowledge From an Event That You Attended
Give people tips for extracting knowledge from industry events they attend. For instance, taking notes during presentations at events that can later be used for blog posts.
Tell Your Audience how to Do Something
How-to videos, posts and/or white papers are a great way to promote. People love it when businesses provide content on how to do something.
Design
Why Design is Important for Your Website
Provide tips on why proper design is important for a website. If you know how your audience uses their websites, provide industry-specific tips.
Design Tips for Your Website
Aside from usability, provide tips on what looks good, how to use colors and images, etc.
Resources for Design When You Can’t Do it Yourself
Like resources for having content produced, offer tips on how to find design resources. For instance people can use freelance websites, contractors or other resources for design.
Basic Web Design Conventions
Give a basic overview of common web design conventions and how to use them. For example, logos for companies typically go in the top left corner of a site.
How to Design an Email for Email Marketing
Email messages for marketing have design conventions that should be followed. Offer tips on what those conventions are and how to use them.
How to Design an Email Marketing Newsletter
Another piece of content that requires careful design input is a newsletter. Do some research and find out what kind of design tips you can offer for an eNewsletter.
Tips for Designing Effective Online Advertising Campaigns
Offer advice on how to design effective advertising campaigns for your audience.
Show Users Common Elements on a Landing Page That Make Visitors Convert
Landing pages are extremely important to get right for online ad campaigns. Give users tips on how to design landing pages that convert well.
Email
Using Email to Market Your Business
Talk about the benefits of using email to market a business online. This would be a broad overview and it could possibly include some stats on email marketing in general.
A Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing
With this ebook, you could go a little more in depth and talk about the steps necessary to start email marketing.
Writing Compelling Subject Lines
Go into what makes a compelling subject line for email marketing. What language makes people open emails? Should you use symbols? What language is a no-no?
How to Increase Your Open Rates
Give an overview of strategies that you can use to increase open rates. What are the pros doing and what is an example of a good open rate?
Email Marketing Tools
There are a lot of third-party tools used for email marketing. Describe some of the leading ones and what makes them useful. Do a compare-and-contrast post.
Creating an Email Marketing Campaign
Everyone pretty much gets the gist of what’s involved with an email marketing campaign, but they may not know where to begin. Describe in detail how to go about making a basic email marketing campaign.
Tracking Your Email Marketing Campaigns
Tracking is important for websites, but it’s also important for email and advertising in general. Give your audience tips on how to track email campaigns.
Best Practices for Configuring the Body of Your Email
Overall, there are things you should and shouldn’t do when composing emails for campaigns. Write an ebook on how to best craft an email marketing message based on what it is meant to promote.
Email Marketing Automation
Talk about what email marketing automation is and how it can help streamline your efforts.
How to Use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business
For this content, you could speak to the specifics of how email marketing can generate leads and sales.
Top Things You Should Never Do in Email Marketing
This ebook could be entirely focused on what not to do in email marketing. You could include things like spammy words not to include in subject lines, reducing the amount of images, etc.
Data Related to Email Marketing as it Relates to Your Target Market
Dig up information on your audience’s target market. You could find industry-standard open rates, conversion rates and other data that would be very helpful to them.
Industry-Specific Email Marketing Tips
Maybe there is a different set of rules for your audience’s industry when it comes to email marketing. Find some creative tips that apply only to them.
Best Practices for Executing Email Marketing Campaigns
Write a piece on best practices to use overall with email marketing. What should people do, and what should they not do?
Using Facebook for Business
This could be a general overview ebook on the different ways Facebook can be used for business. Don’t just focus on sales and marketing, but also on customer service.
Differences Among the Various Profiles on Facebook
Talk about the differences among Facebook user profiles — for instance, the difference between a business page and a personal profile. You can highlight the strengths for promoting different business models.
How to Grow Your Following on Facebook
Give your audience tips on how to grow their followings on Facebook.
How to Leverage Facebook Applications
Talk about what Facebook applications are and how to leverage them in order to accomplish your marketing goals on the platform.
How to Engage With Your Market on Facebook
Getting a lot of likes for a page is all well and good, but it’s engagement that is important. Teach your audience best-practice tips for engaging with their following.
How to Set up a Facebook Business Page
Create a step-by-step guide on how to set up a Facebook business page. Include best-practice tips and things to avoid.
How to Know if Facebook Is Where Your Business Should Be
People shouldn’t be on Facebook because it’s the next, latest thing. There should be a reason for marketing on the platform. Provide tips for finding out if a business’s target market is present and active on the platform.
Other Uses for Facebook in Business
Come up with clever tips for using Facebook in business. For example, maybe it could be used as a customer service or data-mining tool.
How to Make a Simple Facebook Landing Page
Create a step-by-step guide on how to make a simple Facebook landing page application.
Tips for Integrating Marketing on Facebook and Offline Marketing
Provide a list of tips on how to integrate online and offline marketing related to Facebook.
Using Facebook Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Facebook has a robust PPC platform. Offer tips on how to best utilize Facebook PPC.
Tips for What Kinds of Content You Should Be Sharing on Facebook
Posting on Facebook may seem simple enough, but there is a method to the madness. Provide best-practice tips for what kinds of content should be posted on Facebook.
Creating a Facebook PR Emergency Roadmap
As a company, you have to prepare for the event that there is a PR problem that starts on your Facebook page. These sorts of things can typically be remedied quickly if you have a plan in place. Give examples of companies that have crafted well-made PR emergency road maps.
Tips for Responding to Negative Feedback on Facebook
There is a right way and a wrong way to respond to negative comments on Facebook. Give some tips on how to handle disgruntled fans.
Using and Interpreting Facebook Insights
Facebook has developed a pretty good tracking interface for engagement. Give some tips on interpreting reports and how to measure goals.
A Guide for When and What to Post on Facebook
Knowing when and what to post on Facebook is almost as important as actually doing it. You might have to follow your audience’s industry standards and let them know how frequently and what kind of content they should be posting.
Awesome Applications That You Should Use for Your Facebook Page
Create an ebook about some of the most popular or best Facebook applications that are available. This might be from personal or professional experience, or maybe gleaned from other articles online.
Setting Business Goals for Your Activity on Facebook
Teach your audience how to set business goals for their activity on Facebook. For instance, it might be a reasonable goal to try and attract one new customer a month using Facebook. How will they measure their goals? How will they know when they’ve reached them?
A Guide to Hiring a Facebook Page Manager
Give advice on what to look for in someone who will manage a Facebook page.
Tips for Allocating Multiple People to Managing a Page
Talk about best practices for assigning roles in managing Facebook accounts.
Google Plus
Setting up Your Profile on Google Plus
Give an overview of how to set up a Google Plus profile.
The Basics of Google Account Relationships
Talk about Google’s one-to-many account relationships and how that works with other services.
How to Use Google Plus for Business
Like Facebook, there are a lot of ways to use Google Plus for business. Give some tips on how to do that.
Why Google Plus is Beneficial for Business
Provide stats, real world examples or personal experiences on why Google Plus is good for business.
Growing Your Network on Google Plus
Write a piece on tactics for growing a network on Google Plus.
How to Leverage Shared Circles on Google Plus
Shared circles are a good way to grow a network. Talk about the details of doing that on the platform.
Who to Follow on Google Plus
Influential people are always good to follow. Give a short list on who would be good to follow on Google Plus.
How to Make Your Google Plus Business Page
There are personal profiles and business pages. Talk about how to set up a G+ business page.
Leveraging Google Plus for Business
Provide tips on how to use Google Plus for business.
Social and SEO Benefits of Google Plus
Provide statistics, examples or personal experiences on the social and/or SEO benefits of using Google Plus.
How to Make an Animated GIF Profile Banner on Google Plus
A step-by-step guide on creating an animated GIF banner image for a G+ profile.
Using Google Plus to Promote a Blog
Talk about tips for using G+ to promote a blog.
How to Find Out if Google Plus is a Good Place to Promote Your Business
Give advice for “listening” on Google Plus to see if it’s the right network for your market.
Creative Ways to Use G+
Come up with a list of creative ways to use Google Plus for business.
The Top G+ Influencers and how They Got That Way
List the top G+ influencers and link to them (Hint: this is a good way to get more links to your site).
How to Integrate G+ Into Your Website
Here, you could give examples on how to add “plus one” buttons to a website.
How to Drive Engagement on Google Plus
Talk about how to get people to engage on the platform.
Content That Gets People to Engage on Google Plus
What is the best content to share on Google Plus? Talk about images, video, links or other good content to share and why.
Engaging With Thought Leaders and Influential People on Google Plus
Give tips for getting the attention of thought leaders on Google Plus.
Business Pages vs Personal Profiles
Talk about the pros and cons of marketing yourself via a business page or a personal profile.
Using Authorship and Google Plus
Give advice to your audience on how to set up and use Google Authorship.
Plugins for Chrome That Make Google Plus Better
Give a list of the top plugins for Google Chrome related to Google Plus and how to use them effectively.
Inbound Marketing
What Is Inbound Marketing?
An overview ebook on the basics of inbound marketing.
The Elements of Inbound Marketing
Create a more in-depth ebook about all the elements that are encompassed with inbound marketing.
How to Leverage Inbound Marketing for Your Business
Talk about how to leverage inbound marketing for promoting a business.
How to Learn More About Inbound Marketing
People like to find other resources to learn from. Provide a list of resources where people can learn more about inbound marketing.
Why Inbound Marketing Is Essential for Success in Today’s Business World
For this piece of content, you could provide inbound marketing statistics or examples from other businesses. HubSpot is a great resource to start with.
Who Uses Inbound Marketing
Provide a list of people or companies with specific inbound marketing examples that you can showcase.
Inbound vs Traditional Marketing
Talk about the differences between inbound and traditional marketing approaches.
How Much Will Inbound Marketing Cost You
Go in depth on the different kind of campaigns you can engage in with inbound marketing and what it will cost you.
Inbound Marketing Offer Topics for Your Business
Create an ebook similar to this post that provides a list of inbound marketing offers for your clients.
Major Influencers in the Inbound Marketing World to Follow
This could be sort of an exposé piece on the top influencers in inbound marketing. Not only would it be good link bait; it would help people learn about the industry.
Inbound Marketing Software Platforms
There are a few inbound marketing software platforms out there such as HubSpot and Silverpop. Help people learn about what they are, how much they cost and why they might want to use them.
Inbound Marketing Stats
This could be similar to HubSpot’s State of Inbound Marketing report. You might not be able to get as much data, but you could get some.
Landing Pages
Tips for Landing Page Design
Provide best-practice tips for landing page design.
Making Landing Pages That Convert
Give tactics to readers on what elements of a landing page help increase conversions.
Tracking the Success of Your Landing Page
Give users tips on how to set goals for their landing pages. You can also show them how to know if they’ve reached those goals.
Landing Page Testing
Show people tips or get an expert to post on how to properly test landing pages using A/B or multivariate tests.
How to Use Images Effectively in Your Landing Page
Provide tips on how to use images on a landing page to assist in conversions.
How to Use a Call to Action in Your Landing Page
Give tips on where to place calls to action and how to style them so they are most
effective.
Actions Users can Perform on Your Landing Page
Here, you can write an ebook on common actions that users can perform on a landing page.
Creating Landing Pages Using Automated Marketing Software
Many automated inbound marketing software programs give you the ability to create landing pages within their interfaces. Write an ebook on how to create a page using these platforms.
A Listing of Top Landing Page Optimization Tips
Create a top-20 list of landing page optimization tips.
A Listing of Examples for Well-Designed Landing Pages
Give examples of landing pages that are well-designed, then link to them.
Lead Generation
Information to Ask for With an Inbound Marketing Offer
Write tips on what information people should ask for in exchange for the content they offer online.
Timeline for Lead Conversion
Provide a guide showing the timeline and steps for converting leads to sales.
How to Generate Leads with Inbound Marketing Offers
Here, you can provide tips for your audience on how to get leads using inbound marketing offers.
The Best Methods for Lead Generation Online
Create a numbered list on the methods for generating leads online.
Coordinating With Your Sales Team
Often, there are multiple people that need to be involved to make a lead turn into a sale. Make a guide on how to interact with sales teams in order to convert leads into cash.
Creating Offers That Attract Qualified Leads
Teach people how to generate content that attracts the types of leads they need for their businesses.
Leveraging Social Profiles for Lead Generation
Show your audience how to generate leads using social media.
Using Your Website to Generate Leads
Having contact forms, phone numbers and other lead-generation opportunities in strategic locations on your website can help increase sales. Show your audience how to implement these.
Ways to Ensure You Are Generating Only Qualified Leads
Provide tips on how to get only the leads that will produce sales instead of giving you the runaround.
CRM Software for Managing Your Leads Once You Have Them
Customer record management software can assist in converting leads to customers. Write a pro-and-con piece on the different CRMs out there.
A List of Lead Generation Tips
Give a numbered list of the top lead generation tips.
A List of Opportunities to Capture Leads Online and Offline
Talk about the different opportunities that businesses have to capture leads both online and off. For instance, on a “contact us” page on their website, at industry events or even when people come into a physical location.
Creating Offers That Are Impossible to Ignore
Create offers in the form of ebooks that have information so valuable to a target market that they will not pass them up.
Determining Metrics Like Your Average Cost Per Lead
Show your audience how to gather all the data necessary on how to calculate the cost of a lead.
An Overview of the Lead Generation Process
Give a brief overview of the lead generation process.
A List of Source Examples for Lead Generation
Provide a list of external resources that people can go to for tips on lead generation.
Overview of Different Lead Capture Processes
Talk about the different ways to capture leads using a website.
Tools for Managing Your Contact Database
Provide a list of free and/or paid tools for managing a contact database. For instance, using Microsoft Excel.
Methods for Tracking Your Lead Generation and Conversion Process
Give methods for tracking lead generation and software to do it with.
Growing Your Professional Network on LinkedIn
Provide tips for growing a network on LinkedIn.
Using LinkedIn to Grow Your Business
Give tips for using LinkedIn to promote a business.
Leveraging LinkedIn to Stand out as a Thought Leader
Here, you can give tips on how to build yourself as an authority on a particular
subject area by answering questions and engaging with people on LinkedIn.
Creating a Profile on LinkedIn
A basic ebook on how to create a profile on LinkedIn using best practices.
Creating a Business Page on LinkedIn
A basic overview on how to create a business page on LinkedIn.
Leveraging Groups on LinkedIn
Write about how to use groups on LinkedIn to accomplish goals of promotion for a business or personal profile.
Tracking Your Activity on LinkedIn
This could be about LinkedIn Analytics or using customized URLs in Google Analytics to track visits from the platform.
Why LinkedIn Is Good for Business
Write a research-based ebook that includes stats on why LinkedIn is good for business marketing.
Marketing Automation
How Marketing Automation Can Help Your Business
Talk about what marketing automation is and how it can help make a business more efficient at marketing its products and services to customers.
Marketing Automation Software
Highlight popular marketing automation software programs and do a comparison of features. You might also highlight cost.
Best Practices for Using Marketing Automation
Write a guide on best practices for using marketing automation software.
Elements of Marketing Automation
Explain the different components of marketing automation and how they work together with inbound marketing.
How to Implement Marketing Automation for Your Website
Write about developing a plan and a strategy for implementing marketing automation on a website or blog.
The Benefits of Marketing Automation
Talk about the major benefits of using marketing automation software.
How Marketing Automation Can Help Grow Your Business
Give real-world examples of how marketing automation helps grow businesses. You could also use your own professional experiences for this.
B2B Marketing Automation
Write an ebook on marketing automation from a business-to-business point of view.
How Your Customers Can Benefit From Proper Marketing Automation
Here you can talk about how marketing automation benefits customers and not just businesses that serve them.
Setting up a Pinterest Business Page
An overview on setting up a Pinterest business page.
How to Use Pinterest for Business
Give readers ideas on how to use Pinterest for business.
How to Integrate Pinterest Into Your Current Social Media Strategy
Talk about how to integrate Pinterest with other social media initiatives you are involved with.
How to Tell if Pinterest is Right for Your Business
As with the other social networks, you can give tips on how to listen on Pinterest and find out if a target market is present.
Stats Related to Pinterest
Write an ebook containing statistics on how Pinterest has helped businesses market themselves. You might try and find small business owners who have their own success stories.
Unique Ideas on how to Leverage Pinterest for Business
Come up with a top-20 or top-30 list on creative uses for Pinterest for business.
Building Your Personal Brand Using Pinterest
Tips on how to build a brand on Pinterest.
Incorporating Pinterest Into Your Website
Write a Piece on how to Incorporate Pinterest with Images on Your Website.
A Cheat Sheet for Using Pinterest
Create a cheat sheet for doing basic tasks in Pinterest.
PPC
PPC’s Place in Online Marketing
Talk about the strengths of PPC and where it can be leveraged in online marketing.
What is PPC: A Basic Guide
A basic guide talking about what PPC is, how it is used, and leading platforms.
The Different Leading PPC Platforms Compared
Talk about the leading PPC platforms and do a price and feature comparison.
A Basic Guide to Using AdWords PPC
A beginners’ guide to using AdWords including keyword research and setting up your first campaign.
A Basic Guide to Using Facebook PPC
A beginners’ guide to using PPC on Facebook, including creating an ad and best practices for targeting, among other tips.
How to Do Keyword Research for AdWords PPC
Create an in-depth ebook on how to do keyword research properly for AdWords.
How to Get the Most out of Your PPC Budget
Provide tips on how to best allocate a budget for a PPC campaign.
Tips and best practices for using PPC
Do a general best-practice guide on using PPC. This could be platform specific or it could be a more generalized guide.
How to Know if PPC is Right for You
Give a list of things to consider when deciding if PPC is the right method of promotion for your business.
How to Improve Your Quality Score in AdWords
Provide a focused overview on how to improve an AdWords quality score.
The Best PPC Resources
Compile a list of the best PPC resources for advertisers to use when optimizing their campaigns.
The Best AdWords Resources
Like the PPC resources, you can provide a list of AdWords-specific resources for your readers.
PPC Platforms You Might not Know About
Compile a list of lesser-known PPC platforms that people could try.
Best Practices for Running an AdWords Campaign
Give overall best practices on running a successful AdWords campaign.
Getting Certified in Google AdWords
Provide tips on how to become certified in AdWords.
Best Practices for Adding Keywords and Creating Ads in AdWords
Here, you can write a more focused guide on adding the right keywords to a campaign in AdWords, as well as how to write compelling ads.
SEO
The Basics of Search Engine Optimization
This can be an overview piece defining search engine optimization and its elements.
How to Use SEO to Promote Your Website
Talk to readers about how exactly to leverage SEO to promote their websites.
Black Hat vs White Hat SEO
Compile a comprehensive guide on black hat and white hat SEO tactics. Show people the consequences of using the different methods.
Using Local SEO to Promote Your Business
Talk about local SEO tactics specifically. What do you do differently when trying to rank a website for local queries?
Tips for On-Page Optimization
Give a comprehensive list of on-page optimization factors. You could also generate a template for people to follow.
Tips for Off-Site Optimization
In contrast to on-page, create a template or best-practice list for off-site optimization.
Marking Your Content up With Microdata
Create an in-depth guide on how to mark up content using microdata.
Best Practices for Content Architecture
Make a best-practice guide on how to configure pages and site navigation to be optimal for search.
Top Free SEO Tools
People love free stuff. Make a numbered list of the top free SEO tools that can be downloaded online.
Top Paid SEO Tools
People don’t like paid things as much, but they are still pretty useful. If you have had a good experience using paid SEO tools, use those in your ebook. Otherwise, talk to others in your industry about paid tools that they have liked.
Influential SEO Industry Leaders to Follow and Learn From
Compile a list of influential members of the SEO community to follow. Include what they do, organizations they are a part of and a complete profile on each one.
How to Create Siloed Content
Create a guide on how to create siloed content.
An Ultimate SEO Audit Checklist
Create an ebook containing the ultimate SEO audit check list.
Checklist for Interacting With SEO Clients
Create a checklist for people to use when meeting with clients. What questions should they ask? What do they need to know before taking the client on?
Using Twitter to Promote a Business
Provide tips on how to use Twitter to promote a business online.
How Twitter Is Different From Other Social Networks
Talk about how Twitter is different (in a good way) from all the other social networks out there.
Apps That can Help Enhance Twitter for Business
Talk about the top apps that can be used for Twitter, like Tweetdeck.
The Best Books on Using Twitter for Business
There are tons of good books out there on how to use Twitter for business. Read them or read about them and then do a comparison post or take excerpts from books.
How to Engage a Following on Twitter
Provide tips on how to engage your following on Twitter.
How to Grow a Following on Twitter
Provide tips on how to grow your following on Twitter.
Video
How to Use Video to Promote a Business
Make a comprehensive list on how to promote a business using videos online.
Free Video Editing Programs
Create a top-10 or top-20 list of free video editing software programs that can be found on the web.
How to Make Excellent Videos
Give tips on how to make high-quality videos. This could include editing tips or pointers on where to find people to film and edit videos for you.
Using Social Media to Promote Your Videos
Talk about strategies for using social media to promote your videos.
The Top Video Sharing Websites
Everyone knows about YouTube, but what about other video sharing sites? Talk about different video sharing sites.
Video Hosting Software Platforms for Your Website
There are a variety of new video sharing software platforms available on the market. Talk about which ones are best for your site and how they can be better than video sharing websites.
Tips for Making Viral Videos
Provide guidance for the “secret sauce” that makes videos go viral.
When you come up with inbound marketing offer, try and use your clients and customers to mold your content. The offers you create should be heavily influenced by the goals they want to accomplish and/or pain they may be feeling.
Do you have any inbound marketing offers that you want to share? Let us know in the comments below!
Shawn Manaher
