• Content Creation

    • UPLOAD PODCAST EPISODES TO AMAZON S3

    Posted on
    Nora

    Once you’ve recorded your podcast, the a job isn’t done yet. There are quite a few bits and pieces that you have to remember to add before you upload new episodes to Amazon or wherever you host your podcast.

    By now you should have already created your podcast cover art, but if you haven’t you can download the SOP for that here. Make sure that your cover art is ready to go before you upload your first episode to the servers.

    GATHERING THE INFORMATION TO UPLOAD YOUR PODCAST

    Hollie

    Before you upload your podcast, you need add your podcast information into iTunes. The information you need to add are things like the title, album artist and other metadata that will be pulled from the MP3 that you upload. This information will be seen by your listeners and subscribers of your podcast.

    Most of you will also have a page on your website that contains information about your podcast. It’s important to keep the titles and other information the same on both so as not to confuse your listeners. If you’re interested in creating podcast show notes, you can take a look at our Podcast Show Notes Template.

    If you’re using WordPress, you can use a plugin called “PowerPress” that will help you publish your podcast once you’ve uploaded it to your hosting server. This is simple plugin that also pulls the information you write in your blog post show notes into the iTunes description of your podcast.

    Nora

    One of the things you need to have prepared for uploading other than your podcasts cover art, is the MP3 file of your episode which should be 100 MB or less so that it doesn’t take your listeners a long time to download it. If your MP3 file is much larger than that, you should definitely consider shrinking it down so it’ll be easier for your audience to access it as well as take up less space on their phone.

    Once you have the audio file in the correct size, you will edit some of the text content that appears in the information section of the files, such as the title of the podcast. This title should clearly explain what the current episode is about. Hollie and I have experimented with the titles of our podcast Two White Chicks in China and found that stating the topic directly is better than creating a clever title that sounds cool. People just want to know exactly what the content is instead of having a clever sounding title.

    Hollie

    Another piece of content that you’ll need is the show name of your podcast. Make sure that you use the exact same show name for every episode. You may also want to include a brief description of the episode in your metadata. To be honest I don’t know where this shows up, but I imagine that it helps with the keyword search in iTunes so it’s best to just stick a few lines in there to take advantage of this space.

    QUICK CHECKLIST FOR NECESSARY PODCAST INFO

    1. Title of the current podcast episode
    2. Episode number
    3. Shortened name of the podcast (example: Two White Chicks in China podcast would have a shortened name of “TWCC”)
    4. Creators of the podcast (this will appear as the artist/composer in the MP3’s metadata)
    5. Official show name of the podcast (this will appear as the “album name” in the MP3’s metadata)
    6. Episode summary (Write a few sentences to describe what topics are covered in this podcast)
    7. Podcast Cover Art
    Hollie

    You can upload your podcast to any hosting server, but the instructions provided in this SOP will give you a clear step-by-step procedure for how you or your freelancer can upload episodes to the Amazon S3 server. You can modify this SOP if you are hosting somewhere else before passing it to your freelancer.

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  • Research

    • FIND YOUR PODCAST’S TOP 5 COMPETITORS

    Posted on
    Nora

    There are so many great podcasts on the market, so it’s no longer just enough to upload your podcast and then walk away and hope that people listen and subscribe to it. It’s important for you to know what other podcasts are out there that might be competing for a similar audience that you hope are listening to your own podcast.

    Hollie

    Based on my own experience of listening to podcasts I’ve often searched for one topic, for example “true crime”- that’s my podcast weakness. iTunes will give you other related podcasts that you can you can also check out. You may call it ‘judging a book by its over’ but even before I’ve listen to a podcast I’ve been turned on or turned off by the podcast cover art or by the level of information that the podcast gives me in the metadata. Look at your competitors and decided what you find attractive or off-putting about your competitor’s podcast.

    VALIDATING YOUR PODCAST IDEA USING COMPETITORS

    Nora

    Identifying your competitors is also a way to validate your podcast idea. If there are no other competitors on the market today, it is more likely that this is a sign that your topic is not really something that people are interested listening to. If you’re truly passionate about the topic of your podcast however, don’t just use the lack of competitors to decide whether or not to do the podcast. This is not ultimately the deciding factor. The point is not to be scared off by the presence of competitors because it means that there truly is a market interested in this topic.

    That brings us to another key idea that you need to consider when looking at your competitors- who exactly is your target market? There’s a lot of information online which will help you to define your target audience, and you can use that to find the podcast which you believe have the same target audience. These are most likely your competitors.

    LEARN FROM COMPETING PODCAST BUT STAY UNIQUE

    Hollie

    Something that you should consider when you look at your competitors is that they may not necessarily be in the right. What I mean by this is that just because your competitors are following a certain format, you don’t necessarily have to copy the same script or set-up of those competitors. Let’s go back to my true crime podcast obsession. Some of those podcasts are narrated by a single person while others are acted out as the narrators recreate the true crime events. Both of these are successful formats and there may be other ways out there to present that would work as well. The purpose of studying your competitors is to collect ideas and make adjustments to find that unique offering that your audience will love.

    Nora

    As Hollie mentioned before, identifying your competitors will help you to be aware of what kind of metadata they provide in the podcast marketplace that attracts their audience. Taking a look at the title of their podcast, the description and the cover art will help you to understand how your podcast fits into the market. In addition to that you’ll want to take some time to listen to some of your competitors podcasts to see if the actual content has elements that you are missing or is missing elements that you have so that you can figure out the strengths and weaknesses of your content.

    Identifying these competitors will also give you an idea for what types of advertising opportunities may be available once you’re ready for making money. Considering these other podcasts have similar target audiences, you may also want to contact some of these podcasts in the future for affiliate marketing.

    SOP FOR FINDING YOUR COMPETITORS

    Nora

    You can pass the SOP provided above directly to someone else to help you identify your podcast’s top 5 competitors. Giving this task to somebody else will give you fresh eyes (in this case “ears”) on your own podcast and inspire you with ways that you can continue to improve. The SOP gives step-by-step instructions for how to use keywords to identify your competitors and will ask the person who is completing this task to sample those podcasts in order to find the elements that they like and don’t like about your competitors. Finding this information will help you to improve your podcast which should help you to reach a wider audience as you develop your show.

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  • Design

    • PODCAST COVER ART THAT STANDS OUT

    Posted on
    Nora

    Everyone and their mother has a podcast these days. You can find topics ranging from fixing your car to breast-feeding and of course much, much more. Podcasts are a great way to absorb information while you’re doing something else and as a podcast creator you know that most of your marketing is done through audio. Since there are lots of podcasts out there and the market is getting more saturated, you should think about spending a little extra time on your podcast cover art.

    Hollie

    What you should remember while when designing your podcast cover is that you should use images you use are related to your podcast. That might seem really obvious but this is a great with you to play on the name or brand of your podcast.

    For example, podcasters who interview successful or skilled people such as Tim Ferris have an image or photograph of themselves as Tim Ferris is his own brand. There are also podcasts such as those that I myself listen to like the Myths and Legends podcast that has an image of a castle on the cover art.

    Nora

    Having a great image will definitely help your podcast to stand out in iTunes or wherever else you upload your podcast. Remember that often this image is just seen as a small thumbnail on people’s phones so you want to choose a graphic that is simple enough that it is clear when it’s really small.

    Likewise, you want to make sure that it looks good when it’s large because in some marketplaces you will see a full size image. You want a good balance between being simple and being informative enough to explain what it is that your podcast is all about. Keep in mind this is also probably the only image that your listeners will see related to your podcast so keep it general enough to cover any topic that you might discuss on your show.

    Hollie

    Because most of your listeners will only ever see a thumbnail of your podcast cover art, try not to add too much text.  Also try to limit your font types to two or less so that it doesn’t confuse or detract from the image of your cover art.

    If you’re not a designer, in order to look more professional you might want to outsource this task so that people see your podcast as professional. Often people will judge your podcast content based off of your cover art rather than taking the time to read the description of what your podcast is about. Make sure your designer adheres to all of the requirements outlined by iTunes or wherever you planning to upload your podcast.

    The SOP provided outlines all of these requirements. You can pass this document directly to your designer or freelancer.

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  • SOP Library

    • Simple Steps to Setting Up a Domain Name on WordPress

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    Hollie

    A domain is a URL or website where you can place your written content or products for your customers to access online. In order to write your blog posts, or sell your products, you need a platform to host it on. We like using WordPress, because it’s pretty simple to use, even for beginners, but is still versatile enough to allow for customisation. Take soptemplates.com for example, we started with a template, but found that we wanted something quite specific, so we hired a freelancer to implement the design we wanted. Although there are many custom features on our site, we are still able to add our own content with our limited knowledge of coding websites.

    Nora

    The SOP that you can download above will instruct you or your freelancer how to ‘point’ your domain at WordPress. WordPress allows you to self host your website. This means you purchase a domain name, such as soptemplates.com, but use WordPress to create and publish your content. The other option, which is more popular with casual bloggers, is not to purchase a domain, but use a WordPress subdomain instead. This means that while you choose your own name, the end of the domain will include wordpress.com.

    Hollie

    Buying a domain is an important step in creating a professional image for your website. While WordPress and other blogging sites also allow you to use a free domain, it will have the name of the blogging platform within the URL, and it will make your blog appear less professional. If you purchase your own domain, you can then also set up your own email address, which includes the domain name. For example, hollie@soptemplates.com. You can set up your own email address by following this SOP Template for Setting up a Custom Email Address. Having your own domain will also protect your identity and ideas, especially if you choose your own name as your domain url.

    Nora

    If you haven’t settled on a domain name yet, now may be a good time, to think about doing some keyword research in order to take advantage of free organic traffic from Google. Google tends to put a lot of weight on the URL of a website when it comes to their search results. Although you might want some jazzy name for your business you might consider choosing a website domain that is keyword rich, in order to reap the benefits of free traffic from google.

    Choosing a name that contains keywords that many people are searching for means that you are not only extremely lucky, but maybe have a higher chance of ranking well in Google and being found by your potential customers.

     

    Check out these 10 Tips for Choosing Your Domain Name.

    Hollie

    When purchasing your domain name, you should not also consider buying your.com but also .co.uk and other TLDs (Top Level Domains), especially if you trying to build a reputable brand.

    Many domain name providers will allow you to buy the TLDs for your chosen domain as a package, so if you are sure about your domain, you will want to protect it from potential competitors. Buying them as a package will also be cheaper, and safer in the long run.

    However, this isn’t something you need to agonize over. It may be better buying one TLD domain to begin with and testing it out before putting more money into your site.

    Nora

    Occasionally, a domain is bought by someone who have the intentions of creating a site but the domain ends of sitting empty. Other times a ‘squatter’ will purchase a domain that looks as though it will become popular so that they can sell it, or make a site when the keyword is more in demand. Godaddy offers a service that will contact the domain owner on your behalf, but if you’re interested in buying a domain from someone yourself, take a look at the following articles:

     

    What to Do If the Domain Name You Want Is Taken

    What Do I Do When Someone Has a Domain Name I Want?

    Hollie

    I want to add here that you should probably stay away from trademarked brands that get a lot of traffic, such as iPhone and Apple. To learn a bit more about this, you can listen to episode 0714 of Pat Flynn’s podcast ‘Ask Pat’ here.

    Nora

    Now you have your domain name, you need to create a WordPress account. Just go to WordPress.org and follow the instructions. If you want to make a simple blog without self-hosting you can visit WordPress.com and signing up for an account.

    This SOP will show you how to direct your domain to WordPress. This can be quite a complicated procedure, especially if it’s something you’ve never done before. You may want to hand it over to a freelancer, who will be able to complete the task quickly.

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  • Content Creation

    • Create a Hassle-Free Electronic Signature for a PDF

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    Hollie

    An electronic signature should not be confused with a ‘digital signature’, which is an encoded fingerprint used for legal documents. Digital signatures or certificates prevent people from tampering with the document after it has been created, which makes it a much safer option for business or other important documents. There are services online, such as Signix.com, that can provide you with this feature if you need it.

    Nora

    Prior to the discovery of electronic signatures, it seemed like the only way you could add a signature to a document if you weren’t physically available to do so, was to go through the rigmarole of printing off the document, signing your name and then finally scanning the document and sending it back to the recipient. Although this method might be the first choice for a lot of people, as it seems to be more ‘real’ than signing a document with your finger, using an electronic signature to sign documents and PDFs is becoming more common, especially since most documents are sent via email.

    Hollie

    Living abroad from my home country, means most of my dealings are undertaken online. Although I don’t have to sign documents on a weekly basis, knowing how to add an electronic signature to documents has certainly saved me a lot of time and hassle. For example, when I was planning my wedding last year, I needed to sign contracts and agreements with the venue, caterer and dress-maker to name a few. When agreeing to new student loan repayments (Boo 🙁 ), I fill out my information and sign electronically, when in the past, I would have printed out the documents, filled it out by hand and mailed it back, which took forever!

    Nora

    Although there are plenty of apps and programs you can download to add your signature to a document or PDF, it’s easy enough to do with the software you probably already have on your computer. The great thing is, once you’ve signed your name, several of these programs will save your signature to be added to future documents. Alternatively, you can save your signature as an image and add it to documents and PDFs.

    Hollie

    We don’t provide instructions on how to add a signature to a PDF document on your iOS device within the SOP document, but this process is super easy from the Apple Mail app. Just click on the PDF in your email and tap on the suitcase icon in the right-corner and the Markup tool will open and allow you to edit various parts of the document, including adding a signature. Simply draw your signature on the screen and then resize to fit your document. You can use Adobe Fill and Sign to create an electronic signature on your Android device.

    To find out how to add your electronic signature to a document or PDF, download our SOP Template above.

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  • Design

    • CREATE PERFECT APP STORE SCREENSHOTS

    Posted on
    Nora

    For better or worse, people today consume much more digital content on a day-to-day basis than even five years ago. This often means that we are all overwhelmed with data and content being thrown at us on a regular basis. People take less time to actually read the content of articles or product descriptions and instead they generally look first at the pictures to gauge whether the information is worth their time before spending time to read.

    People are influenced faster through visual communication and so your apps store screenshots are a great way to get their attention and tell them your message without them actually having to read anything.

    SCREENSHOTS OVER APP DESCRIPTION

    Hollie

    If you’re anything like me, and are attracted to shiny, pretty things, app screenshots are one of the most important things that will persuade me to download an app. Often the most brightly colored images will entice me and in general I’m heavily influenced by details and interesting graphics that I see in the screenshots.

    According to research only 2% of people actually read the full app description and many people actually ignored so your screenshots are extremely important in order to get people to download your app. It’s important to include the features in your app. Consider the features that your competitors have and those that are unique to your app. Highlight your apps truly great qualities and convince your audience that out of all the apps on the market, yours is the most essential.

    MAKE YOUR SCREENSHOTS AS A MINI-TUTORIAL

    Nora

    You can also use the space as a mini tutorial to show your users how easy your functions are to use. People will often judge the quality of your app based on the screenshots as well. If your screenshots are unattractive and the design is outdated then they’ll be more likely to think that your app is worth less and be less willing to purchase it, especially if it’s a paid application where they can’t see the actual app until they buy it in the App Store.

    Hollie

    App screenshots are also an incredibly important opportunity to localize your app. In both iTunes and Google Play, you’re allowed to upload different screenshots for all major languages. As most developers now upload screenshots with a bit of text around them explaining the features, you can change this text into different languages. This is a simple way to have a much wider reach in the App Store for people who do not speak English.

    LOCALIZING YOUR SCREENSHOTS

    Nora

    Even if the app itself is in English only, you can still localize the explanatory text in the screenshots. In our experience, we saw a massive download increase (400%+) after localizing this text without even updating the actual app’s interface into other languages. It also helps to translate the app description, but even just doing the text in the screenshot images will help quite a bit.

    When creating your screenshots, you want to make sure that the dimensions match the requirements in the App Store. In the past, it was popular just to take a screen a literally take a screenshot of your app on your device and then use that post that directly to the app store. Currently the design trend is to have the screenshot embedded into a larger image that has a background and a space for a short sentence or a few words to describe each app function. This has many advantages, not least of which is that it saves you the hassle of taking screenshots in multiple resolutions. Instead you can just chop the border area in order to fit the resolutions that you need.

    Hollie

    This space around the screenshots also allows you opportunity to put other kinds of text, such as awards that you had that your app has won or positive reviews that people have given. This also encourages the user to download your app.

    When you are creating your screenshots, use colors and fonts that are consistent with your app design. Also make sure to utilize all five screenshots allowed in iTunes. Google Play allows even more than 5 for your users to peruse. Keep in mind however, that most users only look at the first one or two screenshots so make sure you put your app’s key functions first.

    Nora

    Before creating or asking somebody else to create your screenshots, you might want to get inspired by a checking out the top apps in your category and seeing what they’ve done with their screenshots.

    The SOP above provides detailed and current information about how to create a screenshot and the requirements from the App Store. You can pass this SOP directly to your designer and they will use it as a creative brief to create the screenshots for your app.

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  • Content Creation

    • Convert Your Blog Posts into Effective PDF Leads

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    WHAT IS A LEAD MAGNET?

    Hollie

    First of all, what’s a lead? In marketing, a lead is a way of generating customer interest in your product by offering free products or downloads and is often called ‘lead generation’. The lead is served by ways of a lead magnet which is usually an eye catching ‘bribe’ offering something in exchange for the customer’s email address. One of the most common leads is to offer a free downloadable PDF or eBook on your blog, landing page or social media platform.

    Nora

    Generally, the purpose of a lead magnet is to collect an email address in order to build a membership database. You might have noticed if you’ve entered your email address to get some free goodies like an ebook, that you receive additional marketing emails afterwards. This is because the company has identified you as a potential customer for a paid product, so they are slowly enticing you with other excellent content to make you trust them and eventually buy their products or services.

    Hollie

    You can completely automate these services with some cool tools available in mail server clients like MailChimp, but the first piece of the puzzle is the lead magnet. You can create a lead magnet out of content you already have on your website. Anything can become a lead magnet.

    Nora

    Although this SOP instructs on how to convert your blog post into a PDF, you can offer a whole host of things such as a video, free software trial, product discount, quiz or questionnaire.  

    The PDF or eBook doesn’t need to be long, or time consuming for the customer to read. Ideally the product should be quickly actionable and solve a problem your customers might have. Stay away from long video courses and a novel-sized eBook, as these things can be sold further down the funnel.

    Hollie

    If you keep the content of your lead general and simple, the more downloads or signups you’re likely to get, which will in turn increase the amount of potential customers on your newsletter list. Also bear in mind that you should be clear about what you’re offering your users so that they know what ‘problem’ your PDF or eBook will solve.

    Nora

    Before you create your lead magnet you should probably do some research about your potential customers. These users are known as an avatar and you should define who these people are before you begin to market your products to them. Avatars should be very specific, down to where they live, whether they are married and what their pastimes are. You may have several avatars, and once you have narrowed them down, marketing to each will become much easier. Failing to carry out research on your avatar may result in wasted time and resources on a product that no one really wants.

    Hollie

    Once you’ve narrowed down your avatar, it will be easier to learn what ‘problems’ your users have. You might find out what they need help with by asking them to complete questionnaires, from comments and feedback on your blog, searches on your site and by using Google to find a specific keyword or a gap in the market that you’re able to fill. For example, if your customers are searching for an ‘avatar template’ then this may be the free PDF that you can offer them.  

    Nora

    You should make sure that your lead magnet clearly tells your customers that ‘this product will solve this issue’ such as ‘Find out who your ideal customers are with this free avatar template’. If your lead magnets are on your blog posts, then you should consider keeping the ‘bribe’ as general as possible, so that more visitors will signup. Even if these people are not your ideal customer, you may be able to serve them with alternative products in the future. One of the great benefits of mail server clients such as MailChimp, is that you can place your customers into narrow ‘segments’ based on the leads that they download, how they behave on your site, or the links they click in your newsletters. You can use these segments to your advantage for targeting specific customers with products and services further down the line.

    Hollie

    You want to create a digital product that is different from the content your users can get online. Most of this is just about packaging the content in a tidy little format. Often, an eBook is just made up of blog posts put together in a neat and orderly way with a table of contents and a flow that makes it easier to read. Checklists and cheat sheets make it more convenient for the user to complete tasks if they’re in a downloadable PDF.

    Nora

    People love eBooks and PDFs, because they can take them offline and read them on their eReaders. Reading content offline is a different experience to reading a blog post online, which are often just skimmed for the main ideas. People often read eBooks away from their laptop in a more leisurely manner giving them time to soak in the information you are providing them with, making it more valuable. 

    Hollie

    You want to make sure that when you’re making your lead magnet you use high quality graphics for your image as these will convey value and content. Hiring a freelancer designer on a site like Fiverr will greatly enhance the quality of your lead magnet and will be more likely to entice people to input their email addresses. 

    Nora

    Talking of value, even though your PDF or eBook is free, you don’t need to make it seem ‘free’. You can easily emphasise its value, by adding a ‘worth $xx’, so that your customers feel they are getting a great deal.

    The SOP that you can download above, will instruct you on how to make a PDF from one of your blog posts and then turn it into a lead for your blog.

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  • Content Creation

    • KEEP TRACK OF YOUR BLOG POSTS WITH THIS CONTENT CALENDAR TEMPLATE

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    WHAT IS A CONTENT CALENDAR?

    Hollie

    Whether you’re working with a group of freelancers or you’re going solo to produce content for your site, it’s easy to get bogged down with content. You can easily keep track of who is writing an article for you, on what subject and at what stage they are at in the writing process with a content calendar.

    Nora

    A content calendar is also known as an editorial calendar. Not only will it keep you and your content more organised, but it also creates accountability for yourself and other team members. Everyone knows their deadlines and responsibilities which in turn helps streamline your business. If you set dates for when you will publish your blog posts, you’re more likely to write and post on those days if they’re scheduled in your calendar.

    HOW DO YOU USE A CONTENT CALENDAR?

    Hollie

    My editorial calendar is often where I start my day. I know what content I need to work on or at what stage another article might be at. Although I use Google Docs and often use a filename to quick search a document, having all the links and information for every single piece of content allows me to quickly access documents for all our blog posts, podcast notes or video scripts all from one place.  

    Nora

    In the beginning, it may be easy to remember what content that you have written about in your blog but consider that you may be running this blog for several years or even decades if you’re successful, so you may not remember all the topics that you’ve covered months or years down the line. A content calendar is a quick way to sift through all the content that you’ve already posted to make sure that you avoid duplicate posts on the same topic. You can do a quick search by using the ‘find’ tool in Google Docs.

    Hollie

    Of course, you can always add other content as well as blog content, however, I like to keep my various different mediums in separate tabs of the same spreadsheet. You can easily add a new tab to the template by clicking the + button on the left-hand side. Some of my additional tabs include video, podcast and pages for the site. However, I keep my social media separated because it’s quite extensive and this is something I outsource to a freelancer using a Social Media Schedule.

    Check out our Social Media Schedule Template.

    BRAINSTORMING CONTENT

    Nora

    I often use our editorial calendar to brainstorm ideas for future blog posts, podcasts etc. I may have a random idea and just add them to the calendar without including a publishing date or even started writing any content. It’s great to to go back through the the ideas that I’ve had as sometimes they can help prompt me in the future to write content for these ideas and titles.

    Hollie

    Since this content calendar is a spreadsheet, it’s easy to move content around. So, even though I often use the editorial calendar to brainstorm ideas I can move my content easily so that all the content that I’m working on at present is altogether and easiest for me to view and work on.

    Nora

    There may be times when you have an idea for content that would be better published at a later date, especially if it is a keyword that might get a higher search during a certain holiday. For example, an idea about goal setting might be more relevant at New Year than during the summer. Some topics may have lost popularity by the time you come to write it, but there may be a chance to write something in the future, so keep these ideas for a later date.

    ADDING NOTES FOR UPDATING BLOG POSTS

    Hollie

    A content calendar is also good place to add notes about the posts that you’ve already published. For example, you may need to update images and content at a later date and you can this information to remind you in the future. You can also keep track on when your content was published, updated or may need updating again, especially if you have seasonal posts.

    You might also want to use the editorial calendar as a way to highlight which posts are more popular. This will be extremely helpful for creating content that will more likely to engage your audience.

    OUTSOURCING CONTENT CREATION

    Nora

    If you working with a team of people who are writing content for your blog, the editorial calendar is the perfect place to make sure everyone stays organised and knows when they are expected to post content. If you have freelancers who are researching or writing blog posts they can also add information so you can keep track of that progress.

    Hollie

    You should make sure that your freelancers keep track of their work by filling in the content calendar where necessary. Forgetting to update the status of an article they are working on, this will slow down efficiency and create more work in the long run.

    Nora

    Even if you’re currently working as a ‘one-man band’, consider that as your blog expands you may want to add more content writers to your blog. Getting in the practice of using an editorial calendar is good exercise in staying organised and will greatly benefit any future writers who work on your blog. It is a small and easy way to look professional and make an easier transition from working on the blog by yourself to employing team members to help you. Retrospectively filling in this content is way harder than filling it in as you go. That’s why this template is extremely valuable even if you are working alone.

    CUSTOMIZING YOUR CONTENT CALENDAR TEMPLATE

    Hollie

    Although there are many paid content calendars available now, using a content calendar spreadsheet is not only free but is also easily customizable to fit your own personal (or team’s) needs. In my own editorial calendar, I use colour coded tabs so that I can easily scan through my sheets and see which posts are in the research, writing or published phase. This also means that well researched and written content never gets forgotten!

    Nora

    If you’re using Google Drive you can easily add the links of all your content, so that you can easily access any blog posts that are currently being written, as well as view images, audio or video files that will be part of your content.  

    Hollie

    Although I have a main sheet that I use to schedule blog posts that I’ll publish or update during the week, I also have individual sheets for each type of content. For example, this spreadsheet includes sheets for blog post, reposts, videos, podcasts and any important social media campaigns we currently have running.

    Nora

    You can download our Content Calendar Template by entering your email in the box above and having it send to your inbox. You can start using the content calendar immediately to organise and streamline your content creation.

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  • SOP Library

    • INSTRUCTIONS FOR UX TESTING YOUR APP

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    Nora

    User testing your app is a critical way to evaluate the design, content and usability of your application. Even if you don’t have a large budget for market research, you can still gain valuable suggestions and ideas while discovering errors and potential confusing sections of your app just based on a few user tests.

    Hollie

    If you have been working on the development of an app for a long time, it’s very easy to ignore or miss small mistakes in the design. You may not realize that there is a flaw in the app’s navigation. For this reason, you should ideally have the user testing completed by someone who has never seen the app before. There are plenty of websites out there that offer free and paid user testing. You could also have friends test your app, however you should be aware that these people may be somewhat biased. Even if you have a small budget, try to have at least one person who doesn’t know you user test the app.

    You may be able to watch while someone is user-testing your app. This can give you some amazing insights into your app’s user experience. In this case, it’s extremely important that you keep silent and simply watch. Your instinct may be to help them if they have questions or issues, but try your best not to interfere with the testers’ experience. Hold your tongue and don’t give out any hints- let them figure it out. After all, you won’t be able to help your real users when they download the app themselves.

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    You can gain so much insight if you watch as an impartial and silent observer as your user-tester navigates through the app. Even just watching the way that their fingers move on the screen, or how long it takes them to navigate from one screen to another is extremely helpful in streamlining your design.

    User-testing isn’t a one time event. It should be done on a regular basis and it should be consistent from version to version. You should strive to ask similar questions to one batch of reviewers versus another so that you can compare how your app has improved or deteriorated over time.

    For those of you who have never asked someone to user-test your app before, the SOP download above includes an explanation of the test and a set of suggested questions you can ask your user-tester to answer about your app.

    You can give your tester the SOP directly and ask them to follow the step-by-step instructions. When they finish the SOP, they will follow the directions and give you back a short report including information ranging from issues about navigation to their opinion on the design and colors used in the app.

    Hollie

    Before having someone take part in a user-test, you might want to set some specific goals for what you intend to gain from the test. For example, you may want to ask them to complete a specific task in your app, such as creating an account or editing a photo. Keep in mind what the main goal of your app is. Are you trying to generate revenue? Are you more interested in building your membership database? You can customize the SOP by adding a few of your own requirements.

    Nora

    The ideal test will also include a user who is part of your target market. If your app is a game for children ages 10 to 14 you should try to find some kids who will can test app. Try to find at least a few user-testers that fit your target market’s profile, as those are ultimately the people that will be using your app.

    Ready to get started? Even if you have no experience with user-testing, it’s a super simple process to collect this data using the SOP provided at the top of this post.

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  • Design

    • GIVE THIS APP ICON CREATIVE BRIEF TO YOUR DESIGNER

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    Nora

    The app icon is a small square that makes a big statement. With such limited space, the app icon offers a unique but very challenging opportunity for you to express your app’s function and overall style. It also helps to create brand recognition and many brands choose to use the icon or a variation of the icon to represent their whole image.

    Hollie

    Because the app icon is so small, it makes sense to use either a tiny amount of text or no text at all. You will see that most apps follow this this rule and focus on an image that is related to the brand. The image should stand out enough to evoke recognition in a returning customer or interest in a new customer.

    CREATING AN APP ICON CONSISTENT WITH YOUR APP’S GENRE

    Nora

    Consider the genre of your app when designing your icon as well. Games generally have fun and colorful icons, whereas educational apps might have more serious and interesting-looking icons.

    Pay attention to modern design trends by scrolling through the app store’s top rated apps. It is especially useful to look at the top apps within the same category as your app. Browse the app icons of your competitors and view as many icons as you can to get a feel for how other developers are currently utilizing this design space. Update your app icon every so often in order to make sure that you don’t little outdated in the app store. Over time the overall style of app icons shifts as design evolves. Be sure to check back every few months or so to make sure you stay current.

    Hollie

    Another thing to consider when creating your app icon is whether or not this will be the only app that you release on the app store or whether you plan to create a series of similar apps in the future. You’ll have better brand recognition if your app icons resemble each other or maintain some common theme.

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