Content marketing
You may have heard the expression ‘content is king’ banded about recently or the emergence of ‘content marketing’. This is because Google is rewarding higher page rankings to websites with good, regular, new content. The basic website marketing still applies, but any Search Engine Optimisation specialist worth their salt should be talking to you about content.
An effective way to ensure that your website is continually evolving with good quality content is to add regular articles. This is often seen on the main menu as a tab called ‘News’, ‘Blog’ or perhaps more specific to the website such as you can see on mine, ‘Marketing Tips’.
I believe that great content must have all three of the following:
- Be relevant
- Be interesting
- Add value
Good content will be relevant and interesting, but great content adds value.
Be relevant
To ensure that your articles (or videos, white papers etc.) are relevant they must be aimed at a specific target market or group of people that have similar characteristics. The more specific you can make the topic the more attractive it is going to be for someone who is searching for an answer their particular problem.
So it’s really important to have a clear image in your mind of your ideal customer and the type of people or businesses you want to attract.
A helpful way to ensure that you are writing articles that will appeal to your chosen niche is to write down a list of all the problems you resolve. This can form the basis of your article plan for the coming months.
Make sure that the page is set out with clear titles and headings so that the reader can quickly see how relevant it is to them.
If you are using an email marketing system to inform your contacts that you’ve posted a new article, you can create specific mailing lists to ensure that only those to whom the article is relevant will receive your email.
Be interesting
Assuming that the article is relevant it should be of some interest to the reader; however it will need to be engaging to hold their attention. This can be achieved in several ways:
- Topical – Keep an eye out for what’s current and add your own opinion and slant to it.
Use social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter to see which subjects are being discussed. Join the conversation by asking and answering questions ,then expand with a link to your website explaining in your articles how you are resolving those same issues for your clients.
- Style – Match the style to the type of people you wish to attract.
If your product or service is technical, facts and figures may be appropriate.
On the other hand, a chatty familiar tone helps the reader to feel as though you are talking directly to them. It makes it personal. They feel that you care about their problems and believe that you really want to help them.
- Ease – Make the article easy to read to keep the reader’s interest.
KISS – Keep It Short and Simple! If the article is lengthy consider breaking it down into 2 or 3 separate articles. Or use hyperlinks to another page where more about one particular subject can be read.
Use short sentences, with the important words at the beginning. Use headings and bullet points. This makes it easier to scan read.
Use numbers i.e. Marketing power of 3 or 7 benefits of creating a niche
Add value
This is where I believe good content becomes great.
I was recently told by one of the readers of my marketing tips that they felt as though they were getting something for free!
If you are providing nuggets of information that really help your readers’ businesses or some aspect of their lives, how great is that!
What do you offer in your articles that is so useful that the reader can’t wait until the next one arrives?
Call to action
Having put the hard work in, don’t forget the really important ‘call to action’ at the bottom of your web page or article (or even ¾ of the way through, as long as it doesn’t distract.) This call to action should represent the objective you’ve set yourself when writing the article. Maybe it’s to encourage the reader to look at the next article, pick up the phone and get in touch or share the tip with their community.
What’s in it for you?
It does take time to write great content, but it’s definitely worth the effort.
The content on your website, in your articles, videos and downloads, should be demonstrating that you are highly knowledgeable and skilled in the services you offer or that the products you provide are valued by those who purchase them.
You’re also creating a rich resource area. Imagine whilst networking you’ve had a conversation about something you’ve written a tip about. You can then email them later with a link to the article to reinforce what you were saying.
If you are regularly writing about how you can help resolve issues, content marketing will become a good lead generator for you. When the time is right they will pick up the phone and say ‘let’s meet’ or send you an email saying ‘I’d like to buy’.
I’m a big fan of combining articles on your website and email marketing as a means to stay in touch and build relationships. If this is something that you have been thinking of implementing but not sure where to start, give me a call on 07565 382803 or email me at nicola@attractivemarketing.biz. I’m here to help you!
If you found this marketing tip about creating great content helpful, feel free to share it with your community.
