Blogging & Content

Content is King. Images are Queen.

If you master the content and images on your website and in your online communities, and build on them consistently, all of the other elements of Inbound Marketing (search engine optimization, social media, email marketing, lead generation) will begin to fall into place.

The major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) LOVE great content. Search engines love great content because the people who visit your website love great content. They love it so much that they’ll click a button to share it with their friends on social media or email it to a colleague. Blog posts, articles, downloadable eBooks, guides and resources, memes and infographics, videos, and related content elements draw visitors to your website, giving them a reason to stay there for a while as they click related story links and watch videos. If you provide the content, search engines can create a better experience for the people who are searching. It’s a pretty simple concept that gets lost in the conversation when businesses look to ‘SEO experts’ to deliver results in organic search listings.

So how do you create the content that will allow your website to perform well in organic search results, while enticing prospective customers to visit, return again and again, share your message with their friends and colleagues, and take the next step toward working with your company or purchasing your product? The best place to start is by analyzing all aspects of your market, industry, and your product or service, and then writing the resources, guides, articles, or blog posts that your audience will respond to. Often this begins with a well-crafted blog, with weekly or monthly entries, and delivered to prospects via email marketing or social media channels. From there, it evolves to the development of graphics that tell a story or explain a complex topic, or you may be invited to write for related and complementary websites, reaching an entirely new audience of prospective customers.

The bottom line is that in developing content with a strategic focus on reaching your business goals and giving your market what they want or need, you’ll build a foundation that will continue to support the growth of your online marketing efforts for years to come.  Unlike advertising or direct mail, an article you wrote three years ago could bring you new business tomorrow. Content marketing is the gift that keeps on giving.