Do You Have a Content Marketing Strategy?
Content is truly one the most critical components of a website. Inside the SEO world, this is a vital ingredient for marketing, advertising, and website optimization. Without it, any marketing plan and SEO efforts will likely be hampered. We need to write in such a way that gets readers to our site and this is done via quality content. This is the reason web content services are abundant all over the Web today.
Many people mistakenly believe that creating content should always be about selling. But people are very savvy these days and will pick right up on that. It’s always best to put the needs of your readers first and then you can try to incorporate products that can help those readers. This is a much better approach and actually leads to more sales.
When visitors read your articles on your website or blog, the more you connect with them the more credibility you gain. This will give Google the go ahead to label your website as an authority. Once that happens it’s really like finding that golden ticket to success. Google rewards authority sites with great positions in searches.
It's More Than Just About Search Engine Positioning
Simply focusing on search engine positioning can lead people to create content just based on that. This will actually hurt you in the long run. You will lose sight of the number one focus and that should be your readers, not Google. It’s a mistake that many website owners make, especially in the beginning.
You have probably heard the term content is king, but that is only true when it provides meaning and has some value. The expression “bad copy doesn’t sell” is based on fact. Although I stated before that conversions should not be the primary focus, conversion won’t happen without good content. Content is the driving force behind conversions. You can optimize essentially any type of content to further improve your exposure inside the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) and convert readers to clients or customers. And conversion doesn’t always have to mean sales. It can mean capturing potential customers to your list. But remember that a list has to be nurtured as simply flooding that channel with sales related material is a quick way to get those on your list to unsubscribe.
What About Outsourcing?
Outsourcing has become a very popular means of getting content up on websites but like anything else, care must be taken. Many people claim to be writers but what they actually produce you will have to edit which completely defeats the purpose. It's important to keep on top of your outsourcing efforts. Here are some steps to take to ensure success with this route:
- Check work that they have done before
- Run the articles that they have written before through a service like Copyscape, etc. If it comes up as duplicates this serves as a big red flag!
- Try and speak with them on the phone. You want them to be native in the language you want them to write in.
- Ask them to write a short sample for you and don't give them a whole lot of time. This test will show you if they can write quickly. One caveat: don't expect this article to be very well researched but you want to make sure the grammar is good and that it fits with the subject that you specify.
- Work on a trial basis where you pay them smaller fees until they prove themselves. This won't work with authors that are very established as they won't agree to this. But just remember, you get what you pay for.
Well Researched Content Wins The Race
Because internet readers are much more savvy than they used to be, along with the fact that there are millions of websites/blogs, you need to be much more discerning with your writing. This is going to require creating truly compelling articles. This is what keeps readers on your website and as mentioned above, is the key to becoming an authority.
In the past, webmasters could get away with throwing up several pages and plastering advertising on them. Google now penalizes sites like these and readers are blind to these schemes as well. Sure, you may squeeze by with a couple of hits now and again. But this easy path to riches is over. You need compelling content and the only way to do that is by researching the topics that you write about thoroughly.
Having said that, I am not talking about doing a basic or standard Google search and passing that off as research. Your readers can easily (and do) perform the same Google search. By the way, Google has a lot of advanced features that can be used to supercharge your research work and most readers are not familiar with these. So although I think more is needed that the basic Google search, Google is still extremely useful.
People should look at the content on their website as valuable assets of their business. It should be used to build relationships with readers such that the readers want to come back and read more. Do everything you can to make compelling content and engage the readers to sign up for you mailing list so that you consistently get them back to your website. This will help you immensely from every perspective: from better reader engagement which leads to better Google position to an increase in the potential to sell your products to those readers when the time is right.
