Anyone running a business online has most likely heard of SEO, but what is content marketing? It’s one of the absolute best ways to get potential customers to your website, and you do it by having relevant, engaging content for your visitors to consume.
Whatever the reason, a lot of businesses haven’t invested the time in a content marketing plan, and they’re sacrificing traffic. They might be relying on word-of-mouth and referrals to drive business their way, but at some point that will be exhausted. Here are the basics of what content marketing is and how you can increase your web traffic with a simple plan.
What’s this content supposed to do?
Back in 1996, Bill Gates proclaimed that “content is king” on the internet. In the time it took him to say that sentence, he probably made about $15 million, so he knew what he was talking about. Content is, simply, all this stuff on the internet that people read, listen to, or watch. It’s blog posts, long form articles, vlogs, podcasts, etc.
A content marketing strategy is made up of several parts. First, there’s providing your site’s visitors with great content. If you’re running an e-business, your blog could keep people updated about your latest releases, or explain developments in your industry.
Once you start creating content, there are some more parts to your strategy. You should have a social media presence to promote the original content you will be creating, in addition to your email list and website blog.
How does this increase traffic—and sales?
You’re in your industry because you know it inside-out, and it’s your passion. Somewhere, someone with a computer is asking a question to which you know the answer. Your content is going to get them to your site through inbound marketing.
Traditional marketing is outbound—like a TV ad or a flyer stuck under a windshield wiper, money is spent to make it and it’s sent out into the world. On the internet, marketing is inbound—someone enters a search query into Google, and if Google decides that your site is of a high quality and matches their search, it sends them to you.
Once they’re on your site, and they like what they see and trust you, then you can turn convert them from a visitor into a customer.
What if I don’t develop a content strategy?
Though Google’s decision-making algorithms aren’t transparent, there’s evidence that they’re moving away from strictly keywords (SEO) to something more content-quality based. This means that content will only be more important in the future.
What this means is that simply relying on Google to find keywords on your site might not cut it soon. If you don’t have high quality content on your site, you’ll get ranked behind a business that does.
Furthermore, you won’t be the only one suffering—your fans will, too. For instance, if you don’t have a blog because you already have a facebook page, you’re limiting yourself to where you can direct your social traffic.
Google doesn’t index facebook pages, so no one can search for a post and find it via a search engine. Second, there’s no way to link people directly to a facebook post, unlike the unique URL given to every blog post. Third, as you post new stuff, that post slowly gets shoved down your timeline until it’s basically impossible to find.
Give your content a home where it can live forever, so people can find it. Have you found success through a content marketing plan? Let us know in the comments below!
Are you looking to learn more about content marketing? Contact us for a no obligation strategy session, and we’ll help you gain more clarity and focus regarding your digital strategy.