-
by Lindsey Smith
5 Benefits of Content Marketing Your Business Can’t Ignore
1. Content Helps People and Google Find You
What are the chances that you’ll find your site at the top of the results page when you look it up on Google?
One of the reasons why a site comes up at the top of the results page is because of content marketing. Search engines like Google look for quality content. The more you put up content that’s related to your product, the higher your chances of being one of the results that Google shows to your customer.
For example, you write a blog on the beautiful beaches in the Caribbean and use long-tailed keywords your customers would look for. Now, your travel and tours business is a step closer to being the top result.
2. Communication with Your Audience
Other than customer reviews and inquiries, blog posts are a great way to connect with your customers.
Creating blogs can be a little tiresome if you’re not the type of person to sit down and write. Although, it is great content marketing for small business owners.
Your blog posts don’t always have to revolve around your products, but they must be in some way connected. Your initial goal here is to get attention. In time, that attention will gravitate to your products and services.
Your blog posts can be about the make and mold of your unique products, or how your customers can use your products in other unusual but effective ways. Your ultimate goal here is to humanize your brand and approachability.
3. Better Brand Awareness
If you want higher brand awareness, create as much content as you can.
In any case, the more you put blog posts, pictures, videos, and such out there, the more people are aware of your brand. Use social media to your advantage. Create relevant and informative posts on Facebook or Twitter.
4. Makes Your Brand Trustworthy
Content like the ones we’re about to share with you will help you build authority and credibility.
Infographics are great tells of a dependable site. Short articles, checklists, and graphs are more creative examples as well.
If you are a person who enjoys writing, you may want to try long-form writing. If you are the type who likes to talk about things but would rather not show your face, start a podcast. If you are a people person, host a live interview or circulate a poll.
5. Economic Benefits of Content Marketing
Good marketing strategies provide more sales. Thus, great content marketing strategies give you more profit and decreased marketing costs.
With as many as 1.92 billion digital buyers expected in 2019, you’ll want to invest in a few content marketing strategies soon.
The wonderful thing about content marketing is that it is inexpensive and available to anyone. With enough effort, you can do everything without paying a penny. Write your own blogs, record your own podcasts, or shoot your product photos.
How Resharing Your Content Impacts SEO
SEO strategists agree that search engine web crawlers often prefer fresh, changing content. However, your search rankings will also remain strong if your content is frequently reshared. In addition, reshared evergreen content will be viewed over and over, unlike content that will only be relevant for a short time. It’s often both easier and more effective to choose this type of content.
Media Evolution
Remember MySpace? If you’re in your 20s, the answer will probably be no. New channels of media are constantly in development, creating audiences that are both younger and older than the previous ones. Folks all over the world are being connected to the internet for the first time. There will always be new people to see your content, and if it’s evergreen and withstands the test of time, it will resound with new viewers year after year.
Social Evolution
As we all know, history repeats itself. Evergreen content is crafted to endure the changing whims of trends and society. Once one fad fizzles out and the next one replaces it, your content will still be valid and applicable. It’s vital to create greater social engagement and always have something valid to say. Resharing content can help you achieve your goals.
Networking Evolution
Just as the world is constantly changing, so are the companies and individuals with whom you connect. Sites all over the internet will link back to your content, and the web of places that funnel traffic to that site is always expanding. When visitors finally end up reading your content, it should still be applicable. The internet is a circle, not a line, so resharing does — and always will — be a factor. Your content should be ready for it.
How to Ensure Your Content is Long Enough for Google
Quality content is key for ranking well in Google search results, but length also plays a factor. Years ago, the ideal word count for a blog article was between 500 and 700 words. These days, that number has grown to 2,500 because readers want well-researched, in-depth content.
Produce Higher Quality Content
Studies have anticipated this trend of long-form content for quite some time because length tends to characterize higher-quality content. Producing better content means researching, vetting data sources, and considering analytics. A 2,500-word post takes hours, even days to research, draft, format, and edit, but it communicates ideas more effectively than a tighter word limit. Whether you’re writing the content yourself or enlisting the help of a digital marketing agency, don’t be afraid of making a bigger investment.
Aim for 1,000 Words in General Posts
Writing 2,500-word posts for every publication seems daunting, but the good news is you can reserve that number for high-competition posts. In general, your regular content strategy should involve 1,000-word weekly blog posts and even the occasional 300- to 700-word post when the subject matter doesn’t require longer content.
Throw in the heavy-hitting, 2,250- to 2,500-word articles whenever you can, but make sure they’re easily scannable with subheadings and images to break up the text.
Spend More Time Promoting
The ideal blog post in 2017 takes longer to write, which means marketers and bloggers are posting them less frequently. When you create longer, more in-depth pieces, you can spend extra time promoting them instead of churning out frequent mini posts. You should still post at least once a week, but don’t sweat it if you can’t produce more content than that.
Is Anyone Even Reading Your Content?
Creating interesting content is crucial to your website’s success, but even posting the most informative articles doesn’t ensure your pieces will attract an audience. That’s because there’s an overwhelming amount of content on the web, and yours needs to stand out. If your page analytics aren’t matching your expectations, here are some things to consider.
Start With the Important Stuff
Studies have shown that readers are more likely to be engaged if you start your content with the important stuff first. As such, you may want to include facts or definitions about the article’s subject right off the bat, and then follow up with specific details.
Write Content People Want to Read
Maintaining a conversational tone throughout your content allows people to connect on a more personal level. People love to read stories, so consider how you can create captivating content the average reader will want to explore in full. Even as a business, sharing stories can boost your conversion rates and build better business-client relationships.
Craft Creative Subheadings
It’s essential to break up your text in a way that makes it easier on the eyes. The best way of doing this is to use subheadings. Creative subheadings attract attention and inform the reader what sort of information lies ahead. They also make the content easier to scan, which encourages readers to move on to the next section.
Include Images
Failing to use images in your content doesn’t encourage your audience to keep reading. Rather than bombard readers with an overwhelming amount of text, break up the content with suitable images. You can start with a primary article image and use carefully chosen images throughout the post, especially if your post is long. Images can also work similarly to subheadings because they create a visual break in the text that make the content easier to scan.
4 Article Writing Tips to Use When Writing Long-form Content
Gaining organic traffic sets you higher than your competitors, costs less than sponsored search, and can gain your brand more credibility over time.
One of the best strategies to gain organic traffic is posting great long-form content on your website. But, it can’t only be good quality content. It has to follow the SEO fundamentals to gain organic traffic.
We’re going to tell you 4 article writing tips you should follow to write great long-form content to grow your organic traffic. Ready to learn more?
Putting out great content on a website is a feat for any company. You want to sell your products and services without sounding like an advertisement. Your company website is a great opportunity to provide value to your customer in a personable way.
How can your business achieve this? One of the best ways is by sharing great relevant content. Yet, you must ensure it follows SEO best practice.
After all, you want your content to help your current customers in addition to bringing new customers through your door. Here are 4 long-form website content writing tips to grow your organic traffic:
Write Content for Your Target Audience
All your website content must be relevant to your customer. Sometimes businesses miss the mark in their content because they want to cater to a larger audience. Your content can be diverse but, it must be about your industry.
Great relevant content should aim to appeal to the audience’s interests and answer their questions – Not all your posts should be about selling your products. You should tell the audience about your expertise and why they should choose your company over your competitors.
Write Comprehensive Long-Form Content
Your long-form content should be comprehensive and lengthy. It can’t just be a quick overview with a hundred words – You should choose some important points about a topic and discuss them in detail, which will provide value to your customer that they can’t find anywhere else.
Use SEO Headlines and Subheadings
Many content writers underestimate the power of headlines and subheadings. Your headlines and headings have to be powerful. The best way to do this is by optimizing them for SEO.
Your content headlines and subheadings should include rich keywords. They should be able to catch the readers attention but include words that will help Google read the “skeleton” of your content. Each heading and subheading Google reads as a “chapter name” and will help Google categorize and read your content easier. In turn, your website will rank higher and your have more long-term standings in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Include Your Focus Keyword and Keyword Phrases in the Body of Your Content
We can’t deny that organic traffic depends a lot on your ranking. To rank well on search engines, you must use your focus keyword and keyword phrases in the body of your content. When Google spiders your website, it’ll look for relevant content that matches what the user searched.
Although, you should be careful not to overdo it. In the past, it was best practice to jam pack as many keywords into your website’s content as you could with no requirements of readability and sensibility. Times have changed and Google has become smarter. Now, although keywords are important, Google algorithms look for readability and natural.
Additionally, keyword research can help you assess what keywords will rank better in your industry.
Can High-Quality Long-Form Content Grow Your Organic Traffic?
Yes, high-quality long-form content can grow your organic traffic. Remember that good content is part of the equation.
What’s Missing From Your Content Marketing Strategy?
No matter your industry, your content marketing can’t achieve its objectives without a well-developed strategy. Find out what your content marketing strategy is missing and discover how to get it back on track.
A Voice — or Two
When you’re developing a content marketing strategy, one of the first things you’ll need to settle on is a voice. One isn’t usually enough, though, which is why most brands develop buyer personas. Take the time to chart your typical customers, their problems, their needs, and the type of voice that speaks to them. Then design each blog post around one of these buyer personas to ensure you’re speaking to the right type of customer at the right time.
Eye-Catching Visuals
Even if you think your existing customers won’t mind reading blocks of text without images, you’ll struggle to attract a larger pool of interested buyers without eye-catching visuals. While still images can go a long way, consider taking your visual strategy to the next level, too. Consider incorporating great infographics and high-quality video content into your strategy to reach a wider audience. Experts say brands that use video marketing grow their year-over-year revenue 49% faster than brands that don’t.
Lead Generation
No matter how much fun it is to read your content, it won’t help you achieve your goals if it doesn’t prioritize lead generation. Whether you’re encouraging readers to sign up for a list, download a free product, or consider a purchase, your content needs to generate leads with the appropriate calls-to-action. From there, it’s up to you to help guide your customers through your sales funnel and toward purchases they’ll love.
Accurate Metrics
You’ll never know how effective your content marketing strategy is without the appropriate metrics. Before you launch your next campaign, be sure you know what to measure, how to monitor, and when to respond for optimal effect. If you don’t understand how to accurately measure the success of your campaigns or the best marketing strategy, Exults can guide you in this process.
Not sure how to incorporate these components into your content marketing strategy? Contact Exults for all your digital marketing needs.
