We’re obsessed with native advertising.

Every publisher is hooked. From Forbes, The New York Times and Washington Post to BuzzFeed, Mashable, StumbleUpon, Twitter and Facebook.

And every brand is jumping onboard. From RedBull, Porsche and Oreo to AT&T, Intel and Target.

A few weeks ago we answered one of your biggest qs about this trend –  will native advertising work for my business? Now we’re going one step further. 

With more than $4.6 billion being invested in the latest marketing craze, how are you going to maximize the impact of your native advertising campaigns to get customers?

These 5 steps will guide you.

p.s. Need a quick refresher on native advertising?

It’s advertising designed specifically for a digital channel (like Facebook or Twitter) that doesn’t interrupt the user experience (aka we enjoy consuming it). This infographic from Mashable will tell you everything you need to know.

This isn’t your typical bucket list of stats.

Those are overwhelming. And often out of context.

We’re going to do something a little special. Sort of like paint by numbers, except without the paint. We’re going to explore 9 facts that impact you – even if you don’t realize they do – and you can:

0. Stop reading. Yup, that’s always an option.

1. See why they’ll make you a better blogger.

2. Learn how to implement them to pimp out your blog.

3. Share them if you want remarkable content.

Wait, why?

Facts, stats and data show your readers you know what you’re talking about. They’re a great way to establish your online authority and give you street cred because they back up what you’re saying.

This is the trifecta of blogging stats.

Let’s begin.

The World Is Big

I don’t think blogging can help you live a better life.

I know it can.

But the real question is, do you? 

Seriously, why should you blog?

Well, let’s find out. When you blog, you get to…  

I’ve discovered a sad truth.

It’s impossible for small business owners to do content marketing.

No matter how driven or passionate or smart you are, you only have 24 hours a day. Content marketing is a proven way to get customers. But it’s exhausting because it takes time and creativity.

You don’t have enough of either on a regular basis.

But surely, after showcasing the Top 11 Most Powerful Content Marketing Examples By Small Businesses, I must be wrong?

Native advertising.

It’s the latest craze.

I can’t go anywhere without hearing people talking, tweeting or blogging about it. There’s even an annual Native Advertising Summit dedicated to it.

While the definition varies depending on who you talk to, native advertising is simply advertising designed for a digital media channel, in terms of content and format, that doesn’t interrupt our experience as users and customers.

Simplified?

It’s branded sponsorship. Or digital ads we enjoy.

Sponsored Editorials. Promoted Tweets. Facebook’s Sponsored Stories. Paid Discovery on StumbleUpon. Promoted Videos on YouTube. Sponsored Blog Posts. FourSquare Promoted Updates…

These are all forms of native advertising. But what’s missing from the conversation isn’t what it is or best practises – it’s one big decision. Should small businesses use native advertising? More importantly, should you?

Blogging is one of the fastest and easiest ways to create content online, and therefore one of the fastest growing channels for marketing your business online. I imagine many of you blog or are considering starting one, but most of you will stop for one reason – your posts won’t convert customers.

This is easy to change.

I’m assuming you have a blogging strategy to create the right content to attract qualified leads, that you’re promoting your content on a regular basis, and you’re capturing leads via email campaigns, so you can build relationships with potential customers overtime.

If you need a refresher on how to capture emails via your blog and convert them to customers, Chris Hexton (co-founder of email marketing software Vero) does a fantastic overview of the entire process.

When you’re ready, we’re going to explore 3 additional things you can do to write blog posts that convert readers to customers.

I’m a huge fan of blogging.

Blogging has increased our unique visitors by 624% and our leads by 245% – it’s among the fastest growing inbound marketing channels because it’s one of the most effective ways to attract qualified customers online.

Even though we’re obsessed with blogging (we’re even building a platform to make it easier for you to create engaging posts), we recognize it’s not for everyone.

If you don’t do it right, blogging can be harmful to your business. Not only will you waste resources, you can damage your reputation when you create poor content. And as a small business owner, reputation is everything.

So, here are 3 times when I believe blogging can be harmful to your business.

1. You don’t like writing

If you don’t like writing, don’t blog. 

Besides the obvious (you won’t enjoy it), it will be hard to create remarkable posts on an ongoing basis. And you’ll start to feel like this guy…

No Passion = No Readers = No Customers

One of the challenging parts about blogging is sourcing big, beautiful and relevant pictures that you can legally use on a regular basis.

Yes, you can publish without photos.

But you’ll be missing out.

Images are an easy way to increase your readership because they tell your story better than text:

• 90% of the information that comes to the brain is visual.
  

• We process visuals 60,000 times faster than text.
  

• We recall pictures 6 times more easily than text. 
  

So, don’t let finding the perfect image stop you from creating great content. Here is everything you need to know to create beautiful blog posts, every time. 

But first…

What Pictures For A Blog Perform Best?

Big + Beautiful + Relevant

Use images to capture my attention, so you can tell me your story. If the image is small or boring, you’ve lost me. If it’s cool but doesn’t relate to the rest of the post, you’ve confused me. 

Confused about the socks? 

Twitter is a great way to increase your online reach, so you can drive more potential customers to your website.

Social media mentions of your business help you increase brand awareness, credibility and the likelihood that someone will follow you, allowing you to drive even more traffic to your site.

There are a lot of obvious ways to increase mentions of your business. We’ve shared 5 below. But we wanted to have some fun – so we’ve included 6 creative ways for you to increase social media mentions on Twitter.

1. Be Visible