There are dozens of ways in which to communicate online but have you considered content marketing?
There are dozens of ways in which to communicate online, through your website, your blog, your social media platforms, but have you considered content marketing? There are several sites on which to market your content. As with any marketing plan or program, you need to have a strategy to make the best use of both your time and your efforts.
Here are five steps to make the most of content marketing to build your expertise and bottom line, your business:
- Choose a topic that makes sense and sites that mesh with your company culture. You will want to choose a topic that sets you apart from the competition and speaks to your particular expertise. Questions to consider:
- How can you set yourself and your articles apart from the articles that are already being published online?
- What type of articles are your target audience/potential clients reading?
- What questions are they asking and what pain points can your articles address?
- Do you have a particular niche area in which your article will fall?
- Do you have a focus that addresses the goods and services your company provides without selling?
- Does it make sense to spend time on article writing and content marketing if you’re not seeing a conversion from reading your articles to becoming clients? The answer is a resounding yes. You need time to build a following; content marketing needs to be part of a whole marketing plan. Be aware that finding an audience will not happen overnight. You will need to have a strategy in place to track conversions so that at the end of your specified marking time you know whether it’s working. You will need to incorporate something to let you know the success of your articles whether it’s a special offer noted in your bio or the article itself or some other mechanism. Some content marketing sites, ezinearticles.com for example will send out a monthly report to let you know which articles are ranking highest and which keywords are being sought. While knowing how people are finding your articles may not help you track conversions, it will help you hone your writing.
- What will you write about? Content planning is crucial. Will you write a series of How-Tos? Do you have Top 10s you want to share? Do you have a marketing strategy that you want to enhance through the use of your articles? Will you be offering a 10-part (for example) series on a topic? If you’re looking to launch a new product or offering a special deal through your business, use articles to lead toward the sale of those goods and services by making your articles speak to those products. The idea behind article and content writing is to impart useful information, not to be blatantly selling to the readers.
- Are your articles creating conversation? If so, and that is the ultimate goal, are you jumping into the conversation and responding to comments? You should be. If people are taking the time to respond to your articles, you need to join in the conversation. If individuals are sharing your content with others, make sure you thank them. Word of mouth is a powerful referral source.
- Make your content marketing bio work for you. Your profile at the end of your articles should speak to your area of expertise, how long you’ve been in business, what you offer to clients and a link to your website and social media sites.
Articles sent to content websites need to be unique – this means they must be different than a post you have on your blog. The sites require unique content and Google also looks for unique content and having your company name and keywords out there in more than one location helps you get found and stay top of mind with your clients and potential clients. Make certain, too that once you have an article posted, whether on your blog on in a content marketing site, that you’re spreading the word on your social media platforms.
