In the first part of this series on ranking at the top of the search engines, we
discussed diversifying your Internet marketing efforts. We introduced several
methods including RSS feeds, Link Popularity, Article Marketing, Blogs, and
physically altering your pages to make them more target-able for select keywords.
All of these share the key of great content in order to unlock success.
Think of each method as a vehicle that carries the greatest cargo in the world. That
cargo is your business, your product, and the word you want to get out.
Now....
So you're thinking, "show me how to set up these things and get traffic coming in!"
We'll get to that, but imagine if you go to all the trouble of rewriting ten of your web
pages, setting up a blog, writing some articles, buying some text links, syndicating
your site over RSS, and you flip the switch and everyone hears you...
But then surprise! Your audience feels like they're watching an old, dubbed Karate
movie... the words come in English three seconds after the guy moves his mouth...in
Chinese. Your new parade of eager visitors turns away and never comes back.
Then you'd hate me, the Internet, your old first grade teacher... and we don't want
that! So before we start adding marketing bells and whistles to your site, lets focus
on the secret ingredient they all share, the solid foundation... super, juicy, colossal
content! And, you can start drafting that immediately.
Great Content- What Makes It?
Is there a site you visit nearly every day? Why do you go there? Do you learn
something or take back some knowledge? Guess what... the site has "good"
content.
In terms of business, you're probably on the web researching, buying, or selling
something. The Internet is all about information exchange. In whatever vehicle it's
delivered to you, if the information is simple to find and well packaged in easy to
understand, bite size pieces, you're happy. And you'll probably go back to the same
place when you need more of that information.
In your case, content is information about/promoting/creating awareness about
your business. To turn a new visitor into a new client or customer, you want to
convey that information in a genuine, honest, no strings, down and dirty package.
So then, on the surface, your packaging should be:
Professional
Clean
Attractive
Interesting
Simple
Straight Forward
Intriguing/Enticing Let's take this article... the layout, wording, sentence structure, and my personality
package the content. The content is the underlying message I want to share with
you-- that all of the latest e-marketing techniques won't help you one bit if you
don't understand the ideology behind them first, how they work, and how to adapt
them to attract people to your own, unique piece of the Internet.
Great Content- How to write it
That's going to vary depending upon your audience. So let's start there! First, know
who your audience is. Be yourself. If you are dishonest and pretend to be
something you're not, it will show in time and you'll lose all the work you put in.
Which brings me to another important point. Write with confidence. If you are
confident in what you are writing and you aren't attempting to deceive anyone (i.e.
you are not selling seeds to an audience of botanists when your only skill is brick
laying), you will earn people's respect.
Trust goes a long way. You don't have the luxury of delivering your content in
person. You have a very short time to convince people you are not the latest scam,
you have something to offer that will help them, and they can feel safe doing
business with you or at least willing to learn more.
That's a pretty tall order! But you can do it. Let's start with some guidelines for
writing your content. Remember... a web page, an RSS feed or a news article will all
share these commonalities.
Great Content- Thematic Essentials
Be informal, but structuredKnow your audience. Pretend you're talking to them. If you wouldn't say
something in person, don't say it online.Don't be boring. Would you read what you've written?Do NOT lieWriting for the Net is not the same as writing for printKeep it simple- one idea at a time, don't overwhelmInform, educate and show the reader what's in it for them.Do not saturate your content with sales hype. You are slowly building trust,
making a name for yourself, and not producing an infomercial. Great Content- Mechanical Essentials
Divide your document into headings and sub points. People scan a page until
something catches their eye, they don't read.Make your titles and headings catchy, yet poignant.Do not try to incorporate a keyword in every sentence. Be natural, your
keywords and synonyms will enter themselves.Spell CheckGrammar CheckWhen finished, put your document down and go do something else. Come back
later and revise. Repeat, rinse. How to keep it fresh and keep your audience
Earn their trust by being honest
Identify with a common problem or solution to which all can relate
Don't shove your product or service in their face
Show them something cool
Give them something they can try immediately
Leave them wanting to come back Concluding Thoughts...
Internet marketing takes time, perseverance, and practice. A ton of all three. If you
are swamped with work and honestly can't commit, hire someone to help you or do
it for you.
You wouldn't allow a brochure to be printed with spelling errors and bad photos.
Your online presence is no different.
Now that you're working on writing, next time we'll learn how to encase your
content in some of the latest Internet marketing methods. I'll show you how they
really can increase links and get traffic flowing. In this series we'll delve into details
about the pros and cons of each method, and how you can start using each right
away to increase traffic and links. Start writing and revise, revise, revise! See ya
soon!
John Krycek is the owner and creative director of [http://www.themouseworks.ca]. Learn more about search engine marketing [http://www.themouseworks.ca/html/website_articles_indx.html] and web design [http://www.themouseworks.ca/html/website_articles_indx.html] and development in easy, non-technical, up front English!
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