|
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 structured
-Know 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 lie
-Writing for the Net is not the same as writing for
print
-Keep it simple- one idea at a time, don't overwhelm
-Inform, 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 Check
-Grammar Check
-When 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!
About the author:
John Krycek is the owner and creative director of http://www.themouseworks.ca.Learn
more about search engine marketing and web design and
development in easy, non-technical, up front English
at http://www.themouseworks.ca/html/website_articles_indx.html
|
