All posts by Thom James Carter

Boost Site Traffic with a 4-Step Content Marketing Framework

Content marketing framework

This is a guest post by Ronita Mohan. Ronita is a content marketer at Venngage, the online infographic and design platform. Ronita is interested in a variety of topics related to digital marketing, visual content, and online engagement, which she enjoys researching and writing about.

Content marketing has certainly become popular.

In fact, it’s become a lynchpin for marketing strategies.

Businesses of all sizes are employing content marketers left, right, and center to ensure that content is created and distributed on a regular schedule.

The purpose of content marketing may have started as a way for businesses to communicate with their audiences, but it has taken on another angle altogether. Content marketing is now seen as a primary driver of SEO and organic web traffic, and content needs to be tailored accordingly.

Unsurprisingly, content marketers are spending huge amounts of time developing blog post ideas that will gain them traction, incite visitors to their websites, and tempt users to use the businesses’ products or services. But without a solid content strategy, the content itself could be insubstantial and ineffective.

That’s why in this informative post I’ll be discussing content marketing in detail, and presenting you with an easy-to-understand, four-step content marketing framework you can follow straight away. Just read the following sections:

Ready to dive in?

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Virtual Team: How to Excel at Remote Working (Free Templates)

virtual team

It’s 8 am. Your alarm buzzes.

You roll out of bed, perform your morning ablutions, and then sit down at your desk, ready to take Monday by the horns. Which you do, because you’re working from home, and not some crummy, cramped office which is full of distracting coworkers.

Ahh. Bliss.

It’s 8 am. Your alarm buzzes.

You realize you were dreaming.

This rose-tinted view of remote work – and being part of a virtual team – was exactly that: A dream.

Although working remotely can be wondrous, it isn’t always easy.

As members of virtual teams (like myself) will tell you, there are countless challenges and hurdles teams must tackle – from maintaining a healthy work-life balance to establishing a culture of asynchronous communication – before a virtual team can reap the rewards of increased employee productivity, lowered business costs (Cisco saved over $270 million a year!), and improved employee happiness.

Luckily for you, this blog post contains everything you need to help your virtual team not only excel but become excellent.

Read through the sections below to get a proper handle on all-things virtual teams:

Now, it’s time to wake up, smell the coffee, and learn exactly how to instill and sustain a masterful, virtual team!

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Vendor Management: What It Is and How to Excel at It (Free Templates)

Vendor Management

Learning about vendor management is no easy task.

As soon as you search the words ‘vendor management’ in Google, you’re bombarded with details regarding vendor management systems, rather than information regarding vendor management itself.

And considering that 88% of companies use at least one outside vendor, and 47% more than 10 vendors, vendor management is a topic that, at some point in their careers, many employees will need to understand.

That’s why in this informative, easy-to-understand post, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about vendor management – and in layman’s terms.

Specifically, you’ll learn exactly what vendor management is, the benefits of it, and the process of managing vendors successfully. To finish off, I’ll even provide you with (free!) vendor management templates you can jump into and use straight away. Just read through the sections below:

Now, it’s time to get a solid grasp on vendor management.

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How to Implement Effective Inventory Management Procedures

Inventory Management Procedures

This is a guest post by Marla DiCarlo, an accomplished business consultant with more than 28 years of professional accounting experience. As co-owner and CEO of Raincatcher, she helps business owners learn how to sell a company so they can get paid the maximum value for their company.

Inventory management.

The mere mention of it may strike fear into the hearts of those working in the manufacturing, ecommerce, or logistics sectors as, after all, it can be rather complicated.

But with the right high-value processes, procedures, and techniques in place, inventory management can be turned from a fear-inducing activity into one which helps your business to truly thrive.

That’s why in this short, informative post, we’ll take a look several inventory management best practices, so you can help your business be more efficient, productive, and better all-around at managing their inventory. Just read through the following sections:

Now, let’s get started.

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Life Coach Certification: What It Is and Why It’s Useful

Life Coach Certification

Think life coaching is mumbo-jumbo? A bit of social hocus-pocus?

It’s not. And it’s a rapidly growing market.

In the U.S., the personal development industry was worth just $707 million in 2011, but that quickly shot up to over $1.06 billion in 2016.

To boot, the International Coach Federation believes over 53,300 coaches are practicing their craft worldwide, with over 17,500 of those coaches operating in the U.S.

So if you’re wanting to break into the coaching industry and establish yourself as an authority figure, you’re going to need all the help you can get. And that means getting life coach certification.

Confused about what life coach certification is?

I’ve got you covered.

In this post I’ll define what a life coach is (useful for any non-life coach readers), give examples of prominent life coaches, clarify what life coach certification is and how to get it, then offer free Process Street-made templates to help you with life management. Just read the following sections below:

Now, take a deep breath.

We’re about to get started.

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How to Gain Customers and Influence People with Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling

“Once upon a time…
A fledgling young business set upon a quest…
To incorporate digital storytelling…
After hearing of its success.

They scoured the web…
During all hours of night and day…

For digital storytelling techniques…
So their customers would stay.


But they couldn’t quite find…
The resources they sought to seek…
Until, that is, they found this blog post…
Written by the team at Process Street.”

– Anon

Storytelling.

It’s a medium nearly as old as time itself.

From the visual scribblings made over 30,000 years ago by our cavemen cousins to the 18th-century fairy tales about dwarves, goblins, ghouls and demons made popular by the Brothers Grimm, the human need for stories runs deep.

Luckily for us living in the 21st century, we have the digital and technological means to bolster the stories we tell in unprecedented ways.

And from a marketing standpoint, digital storytelling is something of a holy grail; with it, businesses can gain, engage, connect, influence, and retain customers.

So, if you’re on a quest to learn about digital storytelling and how to incorporate it into your marketing plans, you’ve come to the right place, adventurer. Read through the sections below:

Let’s begin.

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What is CRO? How to Increase Conversion Rates (Free Template)

What is CRO?

You may remember from Latin 101 at college that conversiō is the process of turning around, altering, changing, or converting.

And whether you’re now a WeWork-dwelling solopreneur or a newly-hired marketer at an SMB, it’s crucial for your leads to undergo conversiō.

After all, without conversions site visitors aren’t as likely to sign up to newsletters, put an item in a cart, or proceed to the checkout page and order that product or service. Conversions, therefore, are a major contributor to your business’ longevity.

This could be the point where you’re frantically thinking: “I want to secure my business’ longevity! How can I help facilitate conversions? And how can I optimize conversion rates for the better?!”

Slow down.

We’ve got you covered.

During this post we’ll be explaining all things CRO – conversion rate optimization.

First we’ll tackle what CRO is, then we’ll delve into an actionable framework for increasing your conversion rates, and then we’ll provide you with a Process Street-made template which has everything you need to hike those conversion rates up!

All you have to do is read the different sections below:

Let’s jump straight in.

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The KonMari Method Checklist: Marie Kondo’s Simple Cheat-Sheet to Spark Joy

KonMari Method Checklist

Marie Kondo has managed the impossible. She’s rallied a large chunk of the population into getting excited about tidying up.

That’s right. Tidying up.

And there are clear benefits to decluttering – from being able to donate to thrift stores more to having improved mental health, to having better financial management and even boosted rates of productivity.

But how did Marie Kondo revolutionize the act of tidying?

With a simple process called the “KonMari Method”.

In this post, you’ll find out who Marie Kondo is, the science behind the lauded KonMari Method, why the method is beneficial for everybody, and you’ll even get your hands on a (free) KonMari Method checklist!

Read through the following sections to get the complete rundown on Marie Kondo:

Now, let’s spark some joy.

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What is Conversion Rate Optimization? 5 CRO Hacks to Boost E-Commerce Sales

What is Conversion Rate Optimization

This is a guest post by Jessica Bruce. Jessica is a professional blogger, guest writer, Influencer & an eCommerce expert. She’s currently associated with ShopyGen as a content marketing strategist. She also reports on the latest happenings and trends associated with the eCommerce industry. Follow her on Twitter.

As soon as a new eCommerce website launches, there’s a race to get as many visitors as possible.

The race certainly isn’t easy, and what makes it harder are the additional hurdles that come up along the way. One of these hurdles, as you may or may not know, is the acquisition of conversions.

Conversion is the most crucial acquisition for any eCommerce business. An eCommerce business cannot survive with mere website traffic; it needs conversions to drive revenue.

“Trying to increase sales simply by driving more traffic to a website with a poor customer conversion rate is like trying to keep a leaky bucket full by adding more water instead of plugging the holes.”Bryan Eisenberg, Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results

That’s why, in this post, we’ll be looking at what conversion and CRO (conversion rate optimization) are, how to calculate conversion rates, in addition to giving you a handful of free, useful CRO hacks that will boost your eCommerce sales.

What is conversion? And what is CRO?

Before digging deeper, let’s consider what conversion actually is first.

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How to Provide a Successful Performance Appraisal (With 5 Free Templates)

Performance Appraisal

In this post, we’ll be looking at and learning about performance appraisal.

While we won’t be praising performances of global stars à la the judging panel of the Oscars or Golden Globes, we will be using performance appraisals to assess the conduct of the stars in your workplace.

After all, performance appraisals can be hugely beneficial.

For instance, 68% of employees who receive consistent, accurate feedback are more fulfilled in their jobs, in turn boosting employee engagement. Additionally, 92% of employees believe feedback – including negative feedback, if delivered appropriately – is effective for improving performance, resulting in increased employee output.

For performance appraisals to be successful, however, certain rules and procedures must be followed diligently.

Otherwise, the appraisal could backfire and have seriously detrimental results, including distrust and demoralization.

From a business perspective, this can be devastating.

So, to learn how to provide effective performance appraisals, read through the sections below:

Let’s begin.

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