Content marketing is essential for any business wanting to connect with their customers. Chances are you’re already sharing content in your business. Every time you pop up a blog, video, podcast, or social media post you’re using content marketing to attract people to your products and services.
By inviting people into your world and giving free and valuable information, education and resources you are building trust and familiarity. The more you connect, support and inspire your community of followers, the more likely you are to convert them into customers.
Here are three key points to consider when creating your content marketing strategy.
1. Content is an important component of your SEO
High-quality content and SEO go hand in hand. Clever use of keywords and link building throughout your content will drive traffic to your website.
Every second, tens of thousands of people search Google for information, products and services and some will be looking for what you have to offer. You just have to make it easier for them to find you. The more keyword-rich content you have online the greater your chance to make it into these searches.
Your customers may not be specifically looking to buy. They may be at the information-gathering stage. If they stumble upon your content, read it and enjoy it, they are now connecting to your brand and more likely to buy. If the material is great, they’ll even share it with their friends, broadening your reach.
Research the words and phrases your market is searching for, tracking how each performs in search engines. Then you can position these keywords and phrases strategically into relevant and engaging content and use them to create links.
Google automatically examines or ‘crawls’ content when it is added to a site. It is looking for articles longer than 200 words that are not flooded with keywords in unnatural places. Break this last ‘rule’ and not only will you be overlooked, perhaps even penalised by Google, but you will turn off your reader as well. If you get it right, you will rise in search engine rankings.
2. Blog your way to more business
Blogging remains one of the best and most inexpensive inbound marketing tools available to attract new customers and build relationships with existing ones.
As a rule of thumb, keep your blog simple and focus one topic at a time. Write about what will interest your ideal customer. With each blog, you are building credibility and establishing your business as the ‘go-to’ in your industry. Think about the questions customers ask then answer them. If you help people, they will want to do business with you.
Blogging enables people to engage with your business through the comments section, gaining help with their enquiries while providing you with feedback. If they like your blog they will continue to engage with you, developing a level of trust which is more likely to lead to a sale. Once they’ve visited your site, you can remarket to them to keep your brand front and centre.
Remember, search engines favour interesting, relevant content and your blogs are a great way to get their attention. New material posted regularly to your website keeps it fresh and each blog creates a new page which also helps with search engine ranking.
Blogging also creates the opportunity for people to share the link through various platforms which can lead to more traffic, more enquiries and higher conversion rates.
If you lack the time, resources or expertise to write compelling, keyword-rich blogs, you can outsource to a content writer or agency.
3. Spread your message through social media
Social media provides the perfect platform to amplify your content but make sure you follow the ‘rules of social engagement.’ In the past, Facebook and LinkedIn didn’t mind you sharing external links on your business page. Not anymore! They want to keep people on their sites as they can make money if they stay. As a rule, they won’t show your post to as many people if it contains an external link. It just means you need to get clever and use strategies such as posting a ‘teaser’ then including the link in the comment underneath.
Posting your content to social media provides your followers with the easiest way to engage with and share your content, spreading it to a wider audience. Social media platforms also provide valuable statistics so you can see exactly which posts are performing to help fine-tune your content strategy.
Tying it all together to increase your cash flow
SEO, blogging and social media ultimately overlap and rely on one another to build the best result for your business. If you develop the right combination into a content marketing strategy to promote your product or services, new markets will open up to grow your customer base and your cash flow. And that’s why you’re in business right?
If you would like to discover more ways to attract new customers and improve your overall cash flow, Bartercard can help. The world’s largest cashless business networking platform, Bartercard is designed specifically to expand your business and your profits.
As a member, you have access to an online marketplace where you can barter your products and services with other companies both nationally and internationally. We connect you with potential customers specifically looking for your product or service. We help expand your business using cash-less trading, to keep more cash in your business. Conta ct Bartercard today.
