Congratulations! You updated your web site with great content and you’re feeling giddy. The content made your site interesting, relevant and meaningful. But now what?
Your next challenge is to make sure that people find you. You must have an audience before you can tell them about what you do. Here is a summary of some of the things you can do with content to improve the chance that you will be found and that your story is read.
Varying Content to Meet Your Goals
What you write depends on your objectives. If you have an audience, you say one thing, but if you are trying to attract the audience, you may say it differently. This concept becomes even more challenging when you are creating content for inbound marketing. The content on your website should meet three simultaneous objectives:
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The content improves your search position.
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The content attracts people’s attention so that they read the rest of your content.
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The content clearly describes what you provide.
Can you write your content so that it accomplishes all three of these objectives? The answer is yes!
Content for Improving Search Position
Your ultimate goal is to create content that helps people find you on Google and other search engines. You should strive to get as many leads per month as possible. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Define Your Keyword Phrases
The first task is to figure out (guess) what keywords and phrases people will search to find your product or service. If you provide a security service, then you might identify keywords such as “security software”, “secure gateway”, “internet security”, or maybe “enterprise security”. The keyword phrase may not match exactly to your specific offering, but it should be broad enough to include what you are offering. People sometimes look for the wrong things, so take that into account.
Rules for Content that Improves Search Position
Once you have decided on your keywords and phrases, you can adjust the content on all your pages. Here are the rules for content creation on your website and blog.
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If you have a number of different products that you offer, make a web page for each product or service. These are your key landing pages.
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Select key phrases for each page. These are usually unique for each of your landing pages. The pages should be cross-linked to help people find exactly what they need.
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The primary search term you think people are looking for should be in the web address (URL) of each page.
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On each page, you should have titles or headings that describe important concepts. Each title should include keyword phrases that you hope will be searched. You may be tempted to use a catchy phrase, but don’t do it in a title, unless it also matches one of the keywords or phrases.
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On your homepage make sure you have content that relates to all of your landing pages. It is best to first complete your primary landing pages and then go back to the homepage to summarize all the concepts that match your primary landing pages.
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To increase your chance of reaching the first page of Google search, you should also write individual blog entries that meet the same three objectives: to be search friendly, attract attention, and informative..
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Ultimately you must also create an email newsletter that will drive traffic and improve the number of hits on your pages.
Content for Attracting Attention
Once you have a good search position, you will need to create content that people will read.
Content is used creatively by advertising companies to attract your attention. Follow their example. The first line is the most important. You want it to be interesting so that people will read further. Remember that people will look at a web page for less than a second. You have a very short time to catch their attention.
A good eye-catching image can also help gain attention.
The next line should be interesting enough so that people read further. Your goal is to provide good information that will cause people to stay on the blog or your website longer.
And remember, that catchy phrase shouldn’t be in the title. So where do you do this? The best place is in an image on the page. Create an interesting attractive image and not only will your page be on Google’s first page, so will the image.
One of the best places to use a catchy phrase is in your email newsletter. You want the best wording, and the most interesting headline so that people will read the article.
Content to Inform
Your web site should always provide information that people find helpful. Consider how to educate people about your product. Explain how it is used, or why your product is the best solution. Tell them everything they need to know to make their decision, or to contact you for more information. Good content improves your reputation. It helps you become an expert in your field.
Good content will be referenced by other sites.
Use your newsletter to get your message out to your contacts. The newsletter reminds people about your products and services. It’s amazing how many times you can talk to someone on the phone or at a conference, and later forget who you talked to.
Here’s a trick you can use. The newsletter points to one of your blog articles. The blog article should have a title that helps with your search. But, when you publish your newsletter just change the title in the newsletter itself to something that is more likely to attract attention. Now you have accomplished both goals. Attract attention so people click, and keep your search oriented titles that help you get found.
Good Content Builds Your Business
Remember your objectives – and design your content accordingly:
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You must first get people to find you with a keyword focused content structure.
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Get them to read your content through attractive graphical headlines.
- Provide the information they need to gain trust and respect.