The A-Z guide to starting a podcast

There are many reasons why podcasts are a fantastic avenue to explore. It enables you to be able to quickly deliver content on a regular basis while also making it easier for your audience to absorb. Podcasting allows you to expand your brand or identity beyond traditional text and image posts. It allows you to create a true identity and personality for your business that just isn’t possible with other methods. And you can deliver your message in context.

One of the best things about podcasts is that your audience is able to listen to what you have to say no matter what they are doing. There were many situations where it’s not possible to read written content. Whether it is driving, going to lunch or even relaxing at night, a podcast lets you get your message across in the most convenient way possible. They can be downloaded onto mobile phones and listened to on the go. It allows you to show your expertise on the subject and educate at the same time.

And here’s the best bit. You most likely already have all of the content that you need to begin making podcasts. It is a fantastic way to repurpose content on your website or blog effectively creating two different audiences for one piece of information. So, what exactly do you need to do to start your own podcast?

 

Before you begin

Before you begin producing your first episode, take a moment to think about how you want to come across. Speaking in a monotone voice will only turn your audience off. This is where listening to other podcasts in a similar genre comes in handy. It allows you to listen to the ways that other presenters speak, allowing you to perfect your enthusiasm and vocal animation.

You definitely want to try and have guests appearing on your podcasts. They bring credibility and fresh ideas. But if you’re a little shy of the mic, it might be best to start producing a solo show. This allows you to become comfortable with the recording process and focus on engaging your audience. Understanding the types of questions that you want to ask and answer for your listeners and learning not to interrupt any guest speakers are two important things to know.

In fact, there are eight basic steps to take into consideration before you even begin recording podcasts. These will help you build structure and flow and allow you to come across as naturally as possible.

 

Things to think about

1. How many episodes will you put out each week?
2. What category will you fall under?
3. What will you name your podcast?
4. What type of listener will you target?
5. What topics and subjects will you cover?
6. Where will your script come from, or will it be off the cuff?
7. Will you be promoting anything?
8. Will you have guest speakers appearing?

 

Things you will need

Okay, so you now know why podcasts are a fantastic option and you have asked yourself the most important questions. Now it’s time to look at the things you are going to need to create your podcasts. The actual equipment that you are going to need will depend on whether you intended on mixing yourself or outsourcing the project. The most important thing about podcasts is the audio quality. After all, podcasts are all about the audio. Which takes us nicely on to the first piece of equipment.

 

Audio equipment

Finding the right audio equipment for your podcast is possibly the most important step to take. You don’t need to invest in anything too expensive or fancy. In fact, a basic noise-cancelling microphone will do the job nicely. Naturally, the type of microphone that you decide to purchase is entirely up to you. As long as it can capture clear audio, it will serve its purpose.

All too often, people rush out and buy the most expensive microphone that they can find. But here’s the thing. The quality of your audio primarily depends on the location where you do your recordings. As an example, if you try to record your podcast in the bathroom, the microphone is going to pick up on the echoes. Reverberation is not your friend, so find a room that is nice and quiet. Carpeted floors and furniture help prevent echoes, so a bedroom or living room is a good choice.

 

Editing software

Editing software is important if you want to create a professional sounding podcast. Again, the majority of audio editing software offer exactly the same types of features. One of the best audio editors perfect for podcasts is Udemy. It is a fantastic choice for those new to the world of podcasts, and the user interface will guide you through the process.

If you don’t feel like you have the time or knowledge to mix your own podcasts, you can outsource this to be done on your behalf. The pros of this are that it saves you time, effort and the need to learn about audio mixing. However, it will also add on to the cost of producing podcasts and you may not get exactly what you envisioned. Ultimately, it all comes down to personal choice and outsourcing is definitely a viable option when first starting out.

 

The script

You can have the most expensive microphone on the market and a comprehensive audio editor. But if you don’t have a script, or at least an idea of what you’re going to talk about, these are both useless. The script is your content. It is what you will talk about, and what will attract your audience. You don’t need to put together a script that Broadway would be proud of. You simply need a beginning, a middle and a conclusion to prevent waffling.

You can also try to repurpose content on your website or blog or have somebody write the script for you. If you are lucky enough to have plenty of great content on your website, then take a closer look at the analytics and see which posts are performing the best. These are the ones that you can easily turn into podcasts. You already know that there is audience engagement, and a podcast can take it to the next level.

At the end of the day, if you want people to take you seriously, then you have to know what it is that you’re talking about. There is nothing worse than listening to someone stuttering their way through a podcast. Having a script is like having a map that guides you through the entire recording. It allows you to have all of the important information to hand and helps you answer what it is that you are discussing. A script doesn’t just help you prepare; it helps you prepare for success.

As a side note, one of the best ways to find out exactly what it is that your audience is searching for is to look at their comments. These allow you to gain a better understanding of what it is that they are searching for. From here, you can begin to develop a series of podcasts that you know your audience is going to love.

 

Ready to launch

Once you have recorded, edited and mixed your very first podcast, you will be ready to launch. If you were smart, you would drop hints to your audience on your website or blog about the upcoming podcasts. If you haven’t been promoting your podcast, then it’s never too late to start. A simple call to action is all that is required.

Knowing where you will publish your podcast is also important. Are you going to self-host it on your own website? Or will you publish it to iTunes? There are also various podcast hosting companies that will publish on your behalf. Just as an example, some of these include Buzzsprout, SoundCloud, PodOmatic, Spreaker and BlogTalkRadio.

Another great platform that you can use to publish your podcasts is YouTube. While YouTube is definitely more geared toward video content, there is nothing stopping you from uploading your podcast there using a basic image still for the video. Publishing on YouTube will also allow you to monetize the video if you are part of the YouTube Partner program. With a little creativity; slotting relevant images in at the right time can be a simple and effective solution.

 

Growing your audience

As soon as you have published your first couple of podcasts, you can start to look at the analytics. The first thing you want to keep on top of is the number of downloads of each podcast. This helps you see which podcasts your audience is most receptive to and allows you to tailor your content further toward their needs. Another great way to grow your audience is to take on sponsors.

You definitely want to include social media share buttons. One of the easiest and quickest ways of building an audience is on social media. Of course, you have to create content that people love enough to share. But we’re pretty sure that you can do that. If you don’t already have a Facebook page, then now is the time to set one up. A Facebook page allows you to build a community, which can further boost your podcast efforts.

Lastly, one of the greatest ways of developing your audience is by featuring guests on your podcast. Snaring just one or two well-known internet personalities can help your podcasts fly. Keep your guests relevant to your niche. As an example, if you have a health and lifestyle company, then it would be pointless featuring a guest big in the world of construction. Try to satisfy your audience’s hunger and feed them with all of the knowledge that they desire.

 

Final thoughts

While it may feel intimidating to start producing podcasts when you have little to no knowledge, it is definitely a fantastic way to improve your reach. It may surprise you just how easy it is once you have learned the basics. Not only do podcasts allow you to give your content character and identity, but they also provide another source of traffic to your website or blog.

Many of the leading podcasts creators started off small. A mobile phone, a basic script and an understanding of what their audience wants. This doesn’t mean that you need to start recording on your phone. It’s simply to highlight that you don’t need to break the bank or be an expert to enter the world of podcasts.

Article first published here: The A-Z guide to starting a podcast

Having page visibility problems on Facebook? Read this!

So, you have spent hours putting together the perfect Facebook page for your business or brand. You uploaded your header. You have filled all of your important business information. You have probably also optimised it perfectly so that your audience can find you. You go ahead and hit that publish page button waiting for your audience to find you, but nothing happens. You begin to wonder if you have done something wrong? Perhaps the layout is not enticing enough? Or maybe you are giving the wrong impression?

You decide to search for your Facebook page to see what others are seeing. And low and behold, your Facebook page is not showing in the search results. How are your audience supposed to find you if your Facebook page is not visible? And what exactly can be done to make your page visible?

 

Give it time

While it is true that publishing your Facebook page is instantaneous, it won’t appear in the search results immediately. Yes, it can be infuriating when you want to get yourself out in front of your audience. But it can take up to 48 hours for a public page to start appearing in the search results. In fact, for Facebook pages that have no followers or likes, it can take even longer.

Typically, the majority of Facebook pages will start to appear in Facebook searches within 48 hours. If this time has already elapsed, then you will need to take a closer look at your Facebook page settings. Often times people publish a Facebook page without looking at the visibility settings. If you are certain that all of your visibility settings are correct and your page is still not showing after 48 hours, then the Facebook help centre should be able to assist you.

 

Missing information

This is something that eludes many people. There are certain sections of your Facebook page that need to be completed before the page will begin to appear in the search results. After you have checked that your page is actually published, there are four vital bits of profile information that needs to be completed. These are:

• An uploaded profile picture
• And uploaded cover photo
• A call to action button
• Completed about section

To add a profile picture to your page, simply navigate to the page and click on the camera icon located at the lower right-hand corner of the profile picture box. Select upload photo from the computer and then set as the profile photo. The same process is used for uploading a cover photo by using the camera icon on the cover photo area.

Adding a call to action button to your Facebook page is not only good for business but also required for your page to become visible in Facebook searches. To add this button, you will need administrator privileges. Navigate to your Facebook page and select the add a button section below the cover photo of your page. Choose an appropriate button from the menu and follow the instructions that appear on-screen. Once you have clicked finish, you can click on it to test it and check that it is working properly.

For the about section, you need to add at least the required basics. The type of information that you need to provide will all depend on the type of page that you have created. As an example, if you have created a local business page, you will need to add your phone number, address and further information relating to it. To add this information to your Facebook page simply click on the about button located to the left of the page. Navigate to the edit page info button and then select the sections that you wish to add information to. Finally, click save changes to update your page’s information.

 

 Remove country or age restrictions

If you have enabled restrictions to prevent people from certain countries or who are in a certain age bracket from viewing your page, these may be reducing your page visibility on Facebook. While they definitely serve a purpose, it is important to remember that many people use fake information on Facebook and you could be excluding genuine customers from accessing your page. It is not uncommon for people to use a fake date of birth or location to try and protect their privacy. By removing restrictions you are also opening yourself up to a wider audience, which can only be a good thing for businesses.

To edit your Facebook page restrictions you first need to navigate to your Facebook page. Once you have arrived at your Facebook page, locate the settings button at the top of the screen. Click on the settings button and navigate to the general tab on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down to the country restrictions and click on edit. Select visible to everyone and then save. Repeat the process for age restrictions. At this point, it is also a good idea to navigate to the “targeting and privacy for posts” section. Again, click on edit and make visible to everyone.

The reason that age and country restrictions prevent your page from appearing in search results is that users need to be logged in to be able to access the page content. This is all part of the verification process to ensure that the users fit your set requirements. This is also true if you want your Facebook page to appear in the search engine results, such as Google and Bing. With either type of restriction being put in place, you are effectively removing yourself not only from the Facebook search but also Google searches.

 

 Check the spelling

Okay, so this is something that many people don’t even consider to check when their Facebook page isn’t showing up in the searches. When you are creating your Facebook page, it is easy to make a typo, especially with the name that is  in the URL. The excitement of creating a Facebook business page or a fan page makes it all too easy for sausage fingers to hit the wrong key when typing. We are all guilty of it and it’s an easy mistake to overlook.

If this is the reason why your Facebook page can’t be found, the fix is easy. Navigate to your Facebook page and click on the about button on the left-hand side. Navigate to pages name and click on the edit button. Enter the correct name for your Facebook page and then select continue. You will be asked to review the change before making a request for it to be updated. If you are eligible, you can also change the URL of your Facebook page to reflect your business name.

Again, navigate to the about section on your Facebook page and click on the page info button. Select the username section and click on edit. Next, enter your desired business name and check if it is available. If it is available then a green check mark will appear next to it. Select the create username button for Facebook to review the request. Typically, it takes less than 24 hours for the review process, and the URL will reflect the correct business name of your Facebook page.

 

 Final thoughts

If you have tried all of the above fixes to no avail, then the next step is to contact Facebook support and ask for their assistance. Typically, the reason that your Facebook page is not showing in the Facebook searches is because of one of the above reasons. When it comes to Facebook, one thing that you are always going to need is a little bit of patience. It may be frustrating having to wait for your page to appear in the searches. But once it becomes visible, you will be well on your way to building your audience on social media.

Article first published here: Having page visibility problems on Facebook? Read this!

What is the Best Audio to Text Transcription Software in 2018?

If you are looking for a way to turn your audio and video content into written text, then you have two options available to you. The first is manual transcription, which involves someone typing out the words they hear from your audio. The second is automated transcription, where software does the hard work for you. Both have their own pros and cons, so let’s take a closer look at your options.

 

Manual Audio to Text Transcription

Manual transcription has been around for decades. It is a trusted method of accurately transcribing audio to text and allows extra information to be added as required. However, manual transcription is time-consuming, expensive and labour-intensive. Of course, where manual transcriptions truly shine is the human touch. Text can be transcribed in a natural and targeted way with as few errors as possible. This is particularly beneficial if grammar and punctuation is important, such as when transcribing a recorded interview.

 

Automated Audio to Text Transcription Software

Automated transcription software can be a powerful tool to make use of. The software effectively listens to the audio content and then converts it into written text. This can save hours of work compared to manual transcription. However, the text output will only be as good as the software permits, words may be misheard and misspelt, and the final result will generally still require proper proofreading and editing. Depending on how much audio you have to transcribe, this approach can make life much easier.

 

What Audio to Text Transcription Software is Best?

In this section, we are going to take a look at the best audio to text software available on the market. For fairness, we have run an audio file through the software to check the results and to perform an accurate comparison. Each piece of software will be rated out of 5 for its accuracy.

 

Google Web Speech API – ★☆☆☆☆

To use Google Web speech API, you first need to install Virtual Audio Cable. Google Web Speech API allows you to automatically transcribe any audio that is playing on your computer in real time. Once you have installed Virtual Audio Cable, you can open the Google Web Speech API page, hit record and watch as it types out the audio that it hears. There is no denying that Google is able to keep up with the fast-paced speech. But how much does it actually understand? And is it able to write an understandable sentence?

Original Audio – Now, while it’s true I always have a jar or a tin of cookies or biscuits in my kitchen, at Christmas I wanted to have more or a kind of grotto feel. So, that does mean my Christmas chocolate cookies.

Google Web Speech Output – How watts it’s true I’m always have car or for of 10 cookies of pissed kits in my kitchen that Christmas i wanted to Have more of eight kind of gross a field so that does me my christmas got to get cookie.

Okay, so we can see from the text above that the transcription by Google Web Speech API is kind of disappointing. If you were looking at saving time on content output, then this method may actually take you twice as long. All of the edits and corrections will make for a hard task.  In fact, over 70% of the text output is wrong. Maybe the audio was too challenging, so let’s try another snippet from Nigella Lawson’s Christmas Cookies recipe.

Original Audio – Now, when you take the biscuits out of the oven you will see that they have a rather cracked finish. But I love that. It makes them look so homemade and comforting.

Google Web Speech Output – How then you takes the briskets shout for the open you will to say that day had a father cracked finish but I love that if naked then look so home maid and conspiring.

So that really didn’t improve matters. While the foundations for a great transcription tool are definitely there, at this point in time you would be better off manually typing out what you hear. Trying to edit the text after will leave you scratching your head wondering what it’s actually supposed to say. Another issue is that the software randomly decides it’s not going to type anymore and then kicks back in when it feels ready. Out of the full transcription, it made 212 errors out of 283 words.

Due to the poor transcription and the tool being stubborn/erratic it gets 2/5 stars

 

Trint  ★★★☆☆

Trint is an audio to text transcriber that is available both on computers and phones. When first signing up, you are offered a free trial with 30 minutes of audio to be used. Unlike Google, Trint allows you to upload files, URLs, and videos to transcribe instead of simply listening to what is being said. But how well does it actually perform? For the reason of fairness, we will use Nigella again to compare the text output.

Trint is an audio to text transcriber that is available both on computers and phones. When first signing up, you are offered a free trial with 30 minutes of audio to be used. Unlike Google, Trint allows you to upload files, URLs, and videos to transcribe instead of simply listening to what is being said. But how well does it actually perform? For the reason of fairness, we will use Nigella again to compare the text output.

Original Audio – Now, while it’s true I always have a jar or a tin of cookies or biscuits in my kitchen, at Christmas I wanted to have more or a kind of grotto feel. So, that does mean my Christmas chocolate cookies.

Trint Output– Now while it’s true I always have a jar or a tin of cookies of biscuits in my kitchen at Christmas I want it to have more of a kind of grotto feel. So that does mean my Christmas chocolate cookies.

Wow! That first bit of audio is almost spot on word for word! The only errors are “want it” instead of “wanted” and “of” instead of “or”. Uploading audio and video files is quick and easy. The interface allows for drag and drop and takes seconds to upload. The software also automatically detects the language and accent, along with starting new paragraphs when more than one person speaks. So let’s see how it goes with a little more of the audio.

Original Audio – Now, when you take the biscuits out of the oven you will see that they have a rather cracked finish. But I love that. It makes them look so homemade and comforting.

Trint Output – Now when you take the biscuits out of the oven you will see that they have a rather cracked finish. But I love that it makes them look so homemade and comforting.

Again, the audio to text output hits the mark. In fact, it even puts periods in at the right places. Of course, no software can add in punctuation at this point in time. Trint is feature rich, allows you to record and transcribe video simultaneously and does what it promises. The free trial lets you test run it for yourself, which is always a good thing. In the full transcription, it made 14 errors out of 283 words.

Fairly accurate transcription and fast processing gives Trint 3/5 stars

 

Happy scribe ★★★★★

As with Trint, Happy Scribe provides a 30-minute free trial so you can sample the software before subscribing to a plan. Also, like Trint, the software is available online rather than needing to download software to your computer. So, we will use the same audio file again to compare the software and see how well it performs.

Original Audio – Now, while it’s true I always have a jar or a tin of cookies or biscuits in my kitchen, at Christmas I wanted to have more or a kind of grotto feel. So, that does mean my Christmas chocolate cookies.

Happy scribe Output– Now while it’s true I always have a jar or a tin of cookies of biscuits in my kitchen at Christmas I wanted to have more of a kind of Wrotto feel. So that does mean my Christmas chocolate cookies.

The first thing to note is that the transcription process took approximately twice as long as Trint did. However, it actually transcribed the audio almost perfectly except for one word. So far, so good. Let’s now compare the next part of the transcription as used in Trint.

Original Audio – Now, when you take the biscuits out of the oven you will see that they have a rather cracked finish. But I love that. It makes them look so homemade and comforting.

Happy Scribe Output – Now when you take the biscuits out of the oven you will see that they have a rather cracked finish because I love that it makes them look so homemade and comforting.

Again, there is only one error. All in all, Happy scribe is possibly the best transcription software we have tested to date in this post. While Trint performed well, in the rest of the transcribed audio, it changed bowl to ball. Sprinkles to pink holes, and saucepan to source pain.  Happy Scribe, on the other hand got just 2 words wrong out of 283 words! The accuracy is almost equal to human transcription.

The accuracy is through the roof and it is easy to use so receives 5/5 stars

 

Sonix.ai ★★★★☆

The final audio transcription software we have checked is Sonix.ai. As with Trint and Happy Scribe, there is a 30-minute free trial to use. The software is also 100% online and requires no separate tools. The UI is clean and easy to follow and files can be dragged and dropped. Once you select the language and country, your file is transcribed and an email is sent when it’s ready. So, let’s test old Nigella’s audio again.

Original Audio – Now, while it’s true I always have a jar or a tin of cookies or biscuits in my kitchen, at Christmas I wanted to have more or a kind of grotto feel. So, that does mean my Christmas chocolate cookies.

Sonix Output– Now while it’s true I always have a jar or a tin of cookies of biscuits in my kitchen at Christmas I wanted to have more of a kind of Wrotto feel. So that does mean my Christmas chocolate cookies.

Again, it changed grotto to wrotto but other than that it is pretty accurate. We love the fact that this software shows its confidence percentages. It tells you that it is confident with 92% of the text, not sure with 8%. The fact that there is a play button that plays the audio while highlighting the transcribed audio makes the proofing easier. You can read and listen as you go and correct errors in real time. But how does it fare against the remaining sample text?

Original Audio – Now, when you take the biscuits out of the oven you will see that they have a rather cracked finish. But I love that. It makes them look so homemade and comforting.

Sonix Output – Now when you take the biscuits out of the oven you will see that they have a rather cracked finish because I love that it makes them look so homemade and comforting.

The same errors were made in the second part of the sample as were seen in Happy Scribe. In fact, weirdly every error was exactly the same between the two. Perhaps they use the same transcribing software behind the scenes, who knows? Regardless of that fact, Sonix is perhaps a little more feature rich and easier to work with. However, for the full audio transcription of 2.02 minutes, the error count begins to rise ever so slightly. Out of 283 words, it made just 5 errors! Again, a great piece of software that will ultimately save you hours of time.

Almost error free and simple UI gives it 4/5 stars

 

Which is the Best?

It is surprising that a web giant such as Google is so far behind when it comes to Audio to text transcription. Out of the three that actually deserve to be on this list, the one that we found to perform the best with the highest degree of accuracy is Happy Scribe. Ultimately, it would be a good idea to try all three out for yourself and see how they perform for your audio and video files.

Disclaimer: Before we forget to say. We are in no way affiliated with any of these software providers. Nor do we make any revenue from them. Out of 9 different tried and tested types of transcription software, these were the only three that actually made life all the more easy rather than creating work. So, what is your favourite audio to text transcriber? And how do you feel it measures up to our top 3?

 

Article first published here: What is the Best Audio to Text Transcription Software in 2018?

How to Write 5000 Words a Day, Every Day

The average person writes roughy 700 – 800 words an hour, which means it will take between six to seven hours to write 5000 words. Now, this sounds pretty good right? Well, once you add in research,editing and formatting you can add another couple of hours on top.

However, there are ways to speed up your productivity levels and shave a few hours off the time it takes to write 5000 words a day, every day. Once you have a plan of action to follow, you will find that your speed improves drastically, your stress levels decrease and things feel more natural and fluid. To help you on your way, we have put together our top tips to help you improve your writing skills.

Eliminate Distractions

One of the biggest issues people face when it comes to writing are everyday distractions. These range from mobile phones, social media, televisions, radios, and even noisy neighbours. To be able to write quickly and clearly, you need to remove yourself from these types of disturbances and focus on the task at hand.

If possible, set aside a spare room as your own little writing sanctuary. Don’t make it feel too formal or office-like. The idea is to relax your mind and let your creativity flow. Office environments create a sense of rigidity and formality that can hinder your work output. When choosing a space to write in, try and find a place with plenty of natural light pouring in, preferably facing away from any main roads or distracting sounds.

Tip to take home: Get into the zone. Turn things off and move away to write 5000 words a day.

Research Your Topic Before You Start

Once you know what it is you will write about, perform research before you start. Take a note of any important key points on a notepad and then close the research tabs. Avoid researching while writing as this can slow your writing speed tenfold. You should also know what angle you want to come from. Will you write as the first person? Will it be a review? What are people going to be looking for?

Remember the word RAW. Research. Angle. Write. If you want to be able to write 5000 words every day, research is key. With that said, you don’t need to spend hours performing research. Simply perform a few searches on the topic, check a few of the top sites to understand what it is all about, jot down important points and any references and you’re halfway there. Take these notes and work out how you want to come across to the reader and before you know it, you will be ready to start writing.

Tip to take home: Research puts you in the know and helps improve your writing flow.

Build Your Title and Headings First

Once you have done your research and have your angle, you want to come up with a good title and headings. Make sure your title contains your keywords and is a search term your readers may be looking for. A great way to do this is to think about what you would type in to the search engines to find information on the subject. Question titles are always a great way to go.

Next, you should add your headings. Again, use targeted search terms for these and keep them relevant to your topic. Aim for one heading per 250 words and type them into your post before you begin to write. This allows you to use them as a guide for each section without being repetitive and breaks up the content in a search engine-friendly way. By doing this, you also create a template that turns your writing into bitesize snippets, making it feel like you have less to write than you really do.

Tip to take home: Learn to break things into parts for easy writing when you start.

Take Regular Mini Breaks

This is probably the most important piece of advice you can take. Taking regular mini-breaks helps clear your mind and recharge your batteries. Aim to write 1000 words and then step away from the keyboard for 15 minutes. Don’t sit in front of the TV or browse social media, but instead make a cup of coffee and relax in the garden and unwind. If you sit at the screen typing away endlessly, things soon become monotonous. This can make your writing feel exhausting and increase the likelihood of you losing interest.

Think of your break as a reward and as an incentive. The faster you write, the quicker you can enjoy a break. Just don’t lose your focus when taking a break. Clear your mind, think about ways to inject a little more depth into your content and allow your thoughts to ebb and flow without any pressure. Many people think that writing is an easy job, but the amount of brain power, concentration and dedication required can sometimes be overwhelming. If you experience writers block and you are struggling to write, step away from the computer, take five and then try again.

Tip to take home: Take a break and rest your brain to help you up your writing game.

Don’t Edit Your Content While Writing

This is one of the biggest mistakes writers make. Trying to edit your content as you write not only slows you down, but can make you doubt your own words. Forget about typos, syntax, errors and formatting until you have finished your writing. The aim of the game is to be able to

write 5000 words during your working hours and have the content that you need. Focus on writing first and editing second.

Once you have finished writing, dedicate some time to proofread it. Make sure that the sentences sound fluid as you read them and make complete sense. Correct any mistakes while you read and then run the text through a spellchecker such as Grammarly or Scribens to catch any typos that you may have missed. If you try to edit while you write, you lose your train of thought and your output will decline.

Tip to take home: Writing first then edits after helps you write all the faster.

Avoid Voice Typing Apps

There is no denying that voice typing apps serve a purpose. However, this should be reserved for taking notes and making plans only, and for good reason. The problem with voice typing apps is that they will actually slow you down. As an example, Google voice typing makes errors constantly. Capital letters are placed where they shouldn’t be, words are commonly spelled incorrectly, and grammar is almost impossible.

If you truly want to write 5000 words a day, learn to love your keyboard. The more you use it the quicker you will get. Voice typing apps not only make the writing process longer, but also increase the amount of time you need to spend proofreading and editing. Your writing should always come across as nothing but professional, and if your text is filled with errors then people may not take you seriously. Step away from the voice typing apps and allow your fingers to do the talking instead.

Tip to take home: Voice typing apps are not your friend, use a keyboard from start to end.

So, there you have it. Our top tips for writing 5000 words a day, every day. While some of them may seem like common sense, putting them into action will see your writing skills improve, your output increase and you content blossom.

Try to incorporate them into your daily writing routine and watch as your speed and proficiency explodes without sacrificing on quality and readability. If you can’t manage 5000 words a day, don’t be hard on yourself. We at Talk Agency understand it takes time to achieve, and at the end of the day quality will always reign supreme over quantity.

Article first published here: How to Write 5000 Words a Day, Every Day

Driving Direct Bookings Growth For Hotels [2018 Updated Edition]

Our first post on this topic was close to 12-months ago now and was one of our most popular. Since then we’ve stuck to our core strategies as originally outlined, but there are a few areas where performance has dropped, as well as a few where performance has really picked up – providing you some great opportunities for improved ROI. So, we thought we’d repost with a few tasty updates sprinkled throughout

…enjoy!

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It’s no secret technology is playing havoc with the profitability of the traditional accomodation and lodging industry.

You’ve got AirBnB listings sprouting up left right and centre, a whole raft of AirBnB competitors or ‘variants’ nipping at their heels [each with their own sizeable user base!], endless amalgamation and domination of huge budget Online Travel Agents [OTAs – booking.com, Expedia etc] and a range of tech focussed accomodation startups.

It all makes for a dire need for differentiation in the hotel industry, lest your business profitability commences disastrous free fall.

You could be forgiven for hitching any revenue shortcomings you’ve experienced in recent years to the word ‘digital’ in general [and all the above listed businesses associated with the word] if you’re operating in a traditional hotel, but the truth is if there’s one thing digital is, it’s a leveller of the playing field.

Sure, your hotel, chain or business can’t always compete with huge budgets that OTAs often have at their disposal, but you can certainly differentiate to create market edge and position, and ultimately start moving your revenue needle up month on month.

Here are a few key digital marketing ‘fast wins’ that you can implement within your group to drive some measurable gains for your direct bookings, and reduce your reliance on OTAs.

 

Find your angle

While the scale of large aggregators can be helpful for pushing into new global markets, the unique voice of your property will inadvertently get lost in all that noise.

 

To start, list out five offerings that you property/ies have that few in your area do. Be sure to hone in on geography (at the end of the day, people are travelling to your hotel to stay, so this whole strategy should be planned around geo-targets). They could be location (beach, anyone?), price points, a well known F&B offering, special packages, recent renovations or even celebrity endorsements or brand positions.

 

Aim to identify offerings that lend themselves to direct response digital marketing – think more call to action, buy this now, and less branding. By doing this you are giving yourself creative positions that can leverage impulse buys and bookings from users which is a huge growth area in accommodation marketing.

 

Once you’ve got your five offerings or positionings nutted out, you’ve got a base to kick off your digital marketing campaigns, optimising and targeting around each of these individual offerings instead one one simple brand message.

 

By executing on this strategy you can expect to see more targeted digital marketing campaigns across social, digital ads, SEO and email marketing, and consequently less ad spend wastage and higher conversion rates across the board.

 

Take a broad view on digital channels

Stepping away from the aggregators for a moment the next biggest player in the accommodation vertical is without a doubt Google. Between Adwords, Display, Remarketing and Business Listings there’s not a hotel that isn’t dabbling in the Google suite of products in some way, shape or form.

 

The aggregators know this, so they programatically (automatically) deploy large marketing budgets into the Google suite to drive maximum possible traffic volumes to their sites, detracting from your own brand site which is a much more cost effective channel to acquire bookings from.

 

As a way to combat this be sure to take a look at what other digital marketing channels are at your disposal, and avoid being blinded by the Google lights. Don’t get us wrong – most of our client campaigns feature a Google product in some way, shape or form, but they’re generally paired with Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter or more emerging channels.

 

Here are a couple of samples of what we’re talking about;

 

Facebook for MICE

Try creating a like for like list using email addresses. This enables you to target specific industries, job descriptions and audience types. There is a big misconception that Facebook is for Leisure only and not for MICE, but don’t forget most white collar workers in Australia are on Facebook. Facebook is accessed 90% through mobile devices, so users don’t have those pesky corporate firewalls to get around, so you’re bound to find the right audience here. The overarching corporate set haven’t quite cottoned onto this yet so you can buy the inventory you need for cents on the dollar when comparing with Google.

SEO for best possible ROI

Big industry players focus 90% of their attention on digital advertising, forgetting the raw power of quality marketing automation and email marketing and even SEO. We regularly see SEO driving a room night booking for about 20% of the cost of a booking driven by traditional digital marketing channels such as SEM, so it’s worth looking into. In years gone by we’ve talked a lot about technical optimisation for SEO and while this is still vital, you can generally milk everything that’s available out of technical SEO inside your existing website with 3 – 6 months worth of solid work with your SEO agency, freelancer or web developer.

The next steps once you’ve wrapped all of your technical elements is to take a microscope to your content marketing strategy. More and more SEO is about building and maintaining a really high quality website, and then becoming a rock solid brand voice – publishing bucketloads of content that users get huge value from (i.e – not sales-y content, real, quality stuff that will give the user plenty of value – stuff they can’t find anywhere else). Using this combination Google see you as an autohrity in your industry, and someone who’s really trying to elevate your industry as a whole. This type of content work isn’t going to drive results overnight, but we’re still seeing regular users finding our website through blogs that were posted and started ranking years ago.

The total cost to us aside from the time to write them?

$0.

 

Get focussed on granular optimisations

While the sugar hit of booking aggregators can be great for last minute vacancies I could swear they’re getting more and more expensive by the second!

 

The Devil is in the detail if you want to avoid carving out 20% of your average booking to Expedia.

 

To illustrate the opportunity that lies here, let’s break down the cost of Expedia running on ‘autopilot’ vs offering a manual, human driven process – the target outcomes we can expect from each over a one month sample.

 

Expedia, Trivago or equivalent	Direct, granularly optimised strategy
Average  bookings through platform = 300	Total bookings through website = 600
Average revenue per room booked = $180	Average revenue per room booked = $180
Total revenue = $54,000	Total revenue = $108,000
-20% agregator commission = $43,200	+on-site up and cross sells @ 20% = $129,600
$43,200/m in revenue	-total digital marketing costs = $115,600/m in revenue
Cost to acquire $43,200 rev = $10,800	Cost to acquire $115,600 rev = $14,000

 

 

Booking aggregators build large tech stacks to automate as much of their process as possible. There’s normally a custom systems architecture behind the website itself to power it, and then a range of very large digital marketing resources and systems around driving results for search engines and social media channels to pick up and profile their brand amongst every other brand (including your hotel website). At the end of the day, if they don’t get bookings for you, they don’t get paid.

 

The only way the aggregators can do this at broad, international scale and satisfy their Shareholders desire for perpetual growth is by automating their process.

 

Because they do this, a lot of opportunity slips through the cracks. The name misspellings, the locals that decided to book something local last minute, the up-sells, cross-sell and resell, the non-brand-loyal consumer – they are all areas that OTAs can’t capitalise on – programatic automation systems just aren’t built to do so.

 

Here are the steps to take to supercharge your digital marketing – social, SEM and SEO – campaigns and ultimately drive fast results that will step you towards outperforming most aggregators within 12 months.

 

1. Break your activity into multiple levels of subcategories. Automation will get you an acceptable result, manual campaign optimisations will get you a fantastic result. Take one brief, for example a brief for a Corporate campaign, and break it into sub-campaigns with different call to actions and varying geo, interest and textual targeting or activities. Once you’ve done this, hit the big green button to take them live
2. Optimise extremely frequently. If your team or your agency haven’t been inside your digital accounts and assessed the five fastest ways they can add value to your accounts and improve your results in the last 72 hours, your campaigns are now out of date and you’re being pipped at the post by your competitors. They’ve got the upper hand on what you’re doing, and they’ll be getting a lower CPA or CTR than you are. 72 hour intervals are a minimum in terms of frequency of optimisation, but you’ll see upticks in results again if your team are working in your accounts even more regularly than that
3. AB test again and again. Digital markets move – you’ll find the landing page or creative offer that is driving a result today will be irrelevant next week. Design and develop a regular, targeted system that lets you deploy creative quickly, test, measure and then continually improve while live in market. This process can be hard to achieve with large approval chains and processes, so if you can focus on stripping any fat out where possible across both your agency partners and your internal stakeholders, you’ll get some quick wins.

Take advantage of streamlined internal processes

The realities of business are that no matter how efficient a team are, there are normally multiple stakeholders that need to approve a campaign, creative or optimisation strategy.

 

In order to facilitate this process in the most efficient way possible (remembering time to market is lost time in market) it’s worth taking a look at a few tools.

 

If you’re DIYing the complete process;

• Canva – an online design tool that lets you whip up banner ads in seconds
• SEMRush – a digital marketing tool that assists in uncovering untapped SEO and SEM opportunities relevant to your brand
• Mailchimp – a free email marketing platform that is very easy to use in its simplest form

 The above is just the tip of the iceberg – there’s a virtual treasure trove of opportunity in the digital marketing space when it comes to accommodation providers, it’s simply a matter of setting strategy and then scheduling adequate time to actually execute that strategy. Execution will be one of the pillars of your digital success, so be sure to look at all options available to you when it comes to prioritising digital for the second half of the year.

Article first published here: Driving Direct Bookings Growth For Hotels [2018 Updated Edition]

What the GDPR Means to Australian Businesses

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. And as of May 2018, it’s the European Union’s (EU) new regulation governing privacy protection and consumer personal data.

The GDPR was created to protect consumer privacy.

But putting the highest levels of protection around personal data might mean increased obligations for many Australian businesses that collect or process the personal data of EU citizens and residents.

What is considered personal data?

Personal Data. According to the GDPR, it can be just about any unique personal identifier at all. Names, ID numbers, device IP and location information are obvious examples of personal data. But the new GDPR definition is far more inclusive.  

It’s been expanded to include, “any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person’.

And the expanded definition is quite comprehensive.

According to the GDPR,  personal data can now include any online identifier or factor specific to a natural person’s mental, physical, genetic, physiological, cultural, economic or social identity.

This includes any information that could reveal a natural person’s

• race or ethnic origin
• sexual orientation
• political affiliations
• trade union memberships
• pre existing health conditions
• religious or philosophical beliefs

Who will be affected by the GDPR?

The GDPR does not discriminate. No matter the size of your business, new EU data protection laws can affect any Australian business that offers goods or services to natural persons in the EU. Whether a transaction is made or not.

Or any business that monitors the behaviour of natural persons in the EU. Whether that behaviour is taking place in the EU or not.

Ask yourself these questions

• Does my business allow EU customers to make purchases in a language other than English?
• Does my business use tracking to collect data from natural persons in the EU?
• Does my business have an office location in the EU?
• Does my business use data processing to profile, analyse or predict the behaviour, preference or attitude of natural persons in the EU?
• Does my business accept payment in euros?
• Does my business specifically target EU customers?

If you answered yes any of these, there’s a good chance your business is now covered by the GDPR.

How collecting data will change?

The most significant changes for most businesses covered by the GDPR will have to do with the way data is collected.

Prior to the GDPR, business sites often relied on a simple, pre-checked box in order to collect consumer consent for marketing communication.

Under the GDPR, the simple pre-checked box is no longer considered an acceptable means of collecting personal data.

More deliberate ways of opting customers in will become the norm as the GDPR now requires that consumer consent be, “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous”.

Consent requirements

The new GDPR will make “clear consent” more transparent than ever before.

In the past, generic, catch-all statements like, “we may process your personal data to improve our services,” were often vague, yet officious sounding enough to get by on.

But for consent to be considered valid under new data protection laws, businesses must clearly indicate

• What kind of personal data is to be collected
• How this personal data will be processed
• Who will be processing the personal data
• What purpose(s) will the personal data serve

Important Note: The GDPR applies to both new and existing data.

The GDPR clearly states, “Consent is not freely given if the individual has no genuine or free choice or is unable to refuse or withdraw consent at any time.”

So business must now ensure that withdrawal of consent be as easy as giving consent.

Proving consent

Under GDPR, businesses must now provide proof of consent before sending any communications to contacts.

And consent applies to all data collection practices. These could be offline methods too. Like snail mail or telephone.

When collecting data, it will now become critical to capture and store

• Date and time of consent
• Method of consent
• A reference copy of completed sign up form (including exact wording)

Consequences of non-compliance

The GDPR is an unprecedented piece of legislation. It’s by far the most sweeping and aggressive parliamentary measure of its kind the EU has ever designed.

Their charter states: “The protection of natural persons in relation to the processing of personal data is a fundamental right.”

And the GDPR is proof they mean business. Backed by fines that are equally unprecedented.

Failure to comply with the GDPR can result in fines of up to 4% of a non-compliant business’ total global revenue. In other words, enough to destroy many companies should they be found in breach of the new data consent regulation.

GDPR Compliance

The GDPR was designed to protect the privacy rights of consumers in the EU.

And it’s going to require some fundamental changes to the way your business collects and processes personal data from the EU.

In an economy that’s become increasingly global, it’s more important than ever to keep the doors to your business open to the largest customer base possible.

Partnering with digital experts that fully understand GDPR compliance ensures that you can continue on with business as usual.

Let TALK update your digital services to satisfy the latest EU regulations. And let the world see what you have to offer.

Article first published here: What the GDPR Means to Australian Businesses

What are LSI Keywords? and how do they help you succeed in SEO?

Latent Semantic Indexing.

Sounds complicated. Even by SEO standards.

Maybe you’ve heard the term before. Maybe you’ve avoided diving deeper into what it means. And how using Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords can be even more effective than using individual keywords.

But we assure you. Where LSI keywords are concerned, you have nothing to fear. They’re your friends, in fact. So let’s take that deep, latent, semantic dive. And learn everything there is to learn about LSI keywords. And how they can have a positive influence on your search engine rankings.

 

What is LSI?

(LSI) is a mathematical method search engine algorithms use to scan data. A natural language processing technology able to recognise specific underlying relationships between certain words. Like synonyms.

Or words like “light” and “house” that have simple definitions of their own. But assume a new meaning once compounded into “lighthouse”.

LSI improves the accuracy of data retrieval by attempting to better understand the structure of language. And how people use it.  

And it’s invaluable to SEO. Because the better Google is able to understand your content, the higher Google is going to rank it.

 

What are LSI keywords?

Dictionary.com defines latent as, “present but not visible, apparent or actualised; existing as potential”.

And semantic as an adjective meaning, “of, relating to, or arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols”.

So what makes a word latently semantic then?

LSI keywords are words, or word groups, that are related to your primary keywords.

They can be words that share context with primary keywords, words often used together with primary keywords or words with special relevance to a page’s theme, topic or content.

The LSI mathematical method puts a greater emphasis on synonyms and phrases than it does on individual and specific keywords. Because a semantic search isn’t looking for just keywords. It’s looking to determine the intent and contextual meaning of a user’s search.

Today, almost all websites use some kind of SEO. Even if it’s just basic stuff. So it’s likely you and the competition are chasing the same or similar keywords. With LSI, multiple keywords and semantically related keywords help you stay a step ahead of competitors. And rank better with search engines.

 

Why you should use LSI keywords

Keywords are the foundation of your search engine ranking. But keyword stuffing is dead. Search engines are evaluating content based on its overall context. Not keyword density. So overusing keywords is only going to reflect poorly on your site in the eyes of the algorithm.

Using LSI keywords is a tactic that can help you reach a desired result without breaching search engine etiquette.  

Remember, you’re writing for people. Not bots. And even the machines recognise that. It’s Google’s goal is to deliver the most relevant, highest quality content it can return.

So the quality of your content should always be Priority #1. Because high quality content keeps users and search engines happy.

LSI keywords improve the quality of content with meaningful phrases and semantic language. And help search engines determine the purpose and value of your content.

 

Where you can find LSI keywords

Now you know what LSI keywords are. And why you should use them. But how do you go about finding them?

The good news is, there are lots of excellent tools out there that can help you generate the perfect LSI keywords for your content.

You can try Google Keyword Planner for linking synonyms to main keywords. Answer The Public, a ​visual keyword research tool that supplies relevant LSI keyword options. Or LSI Graph, a tool specifically designed for LSI keywords search.

Website Auditor can help determine which LSI keywords your competitors are currently using, and how often they use them, by using the Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) analysis, a tool that defines the relevancy of content for visitors on the basis of different keywords placed around the main keyword.

These are all kinds of ways to get ideas for LSI keywords. So if digital tools aren’t your thing, there’s a much simpler way of creating LSI keywords – Google’s search result page.

Every time you write your keyword in the search tab, you’ll get search suggestions. Plus related searches at the bottom of the results page.

Take the time to get creative with your search, and you’re sure to find the most effective variety of LSI keywords for your content.

 

How to use LSI keywords

Once upon a time, keyword density was the only metric search engines had to measure the relevance of a page to a search query. But it wasn’t long before people found a way to abuse the system by overloading content with irrelevant and repetitious keywords.  

And that’s what caused search engine algorithms to start keying in on LSI keywords instead.

There’s no hard and fast rule to the number of LSI keywords you should use in an article. But the copy should always feel natural. And not like an effort was made to squeeze certain synonyms in as often as you could. Remember – people not machines.

Pepper LSI keywords throughout the article the same as you would primary keywords. Try combining LSI keywords and long-tail keywords. Or using them in places like your first heading, anchor text, image alt text, meta description and even the page name.

LSI keywords complement main keywords as specific keyword variations. They help eliminate keyword stuffing. And better explain your content to search engines. Which helps rank your content higher with Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Using Google Analytics is a great way to check which keywords are driving traffic to your web page. It’s information you can apply to your next piece of content. And use to determine future LSI keywords. Which will help increase organic traffic, pull more visitors and earn your site higher rankings with search engines.

Users and search engines agree. Nothing beats original, high quality content that’s relevant, informative and reads natural. And meaningful LSI keywords are a tool that make it easier for you to create this kind of content.  

Which will come in handy. Because the more relevant content you’re able to offer users, the better you’ll rank with search engines. And that’s what it’s all about.

Article first published here: What are LSI Keywords? and how do they help you succeed in SEO?