2010: The New Way to be Found Online

Oct 25
07:46

2010

Allan Hitch

Allan Hitch

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Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} The Challenge - Pressure to Reduce Marketing Costs- Companies want to know how best they can spend their marketing dollars to achieve required growth. The Solution “Content Marketing” The new way to be found online in 2010 is to create,2010: The New Way to be Found Online Articles publish and syndicate content that is valuable, interesting and entertaining on many of the social media sites that are available today. Focus on creating optimized content that is specific to what your target audiences are searching for: Identify the information needs of your targeted audience, Analyze your ideal persona’s needs by asking them what they look for, Provide information that fulfills the need of each individual persona, Include a clear "call to action”. What do you want your reader to do? Content Syndication The next step is to optimize your content and distribute it to many social media sites where your content will create conversation. People will find your content on search engines, click through to a social media site and participate in viral/push marketing as they comment and link to your valuable content. Content that Creates Conversation Your online marketing strategy should include creating and publishing remarkable content that builds credibility and improves conversation by being found on social media sites that are indexed in Google’s top 30 search engine results. Without content, conversation is mere networking. Without conversation, content is dead. It goes nowhere. When your ideal persona searches for the information they are looking for with regards to your company, its products or services, you will have the opportunity to present your content via various social media channels. This provides them to choose the communication channel they wish to engage with your content. Using popular Social Media channels to market your content is the new way of being found online. These channels can include Blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Squidoo, Hub pages and many more. Use your website as the hub of your business and attract visitors from the channels they prefer to use online. Syndicate your content and take advantage of social media sites as they enable you to get to your target market on a “many to many” basis as opposed to a static website which offers a “one to many” interaction. Blogging – use blogs as a marketing tool by publishing educational and· relevant information about your products and services. Don’t sell, become a “thought leader” and develop your online credibility. Blogs will consistently attract new visitors and increase the online visibility of your company. Blogs enable easy interaction with your readers and provide a quick way to syndicate your content. YouTube – create short videos showing how your products can solve· problems that your ideal persona is interested in. Upload videos that provide the answers to your most frequently asked questions. Many people add the word “video” to their search term as they prefer to get a visual and audio view of your content. LinkedIn – develop your online network of contacts with professionals· in your particular industry. Review questions that are posted and provide answers that address these questions without selling directly. LinkedIn provides you with the ability to network with thousands of subscribers that can interact with. Facebook – create a business profile and encourage your clients to· become a fan. That way you can attract and communicate to thousands of fans. Twitter – allows thousands of followers to be updated on the Internet· or mobile phones with the messages that you wish to publish. Social Media Bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit· make it easy for your valuable content to be quickly spread throughout the web. Create and publish good content and you will stimulate good conversation. Creating a Content Blueprint It is easy to fall into the trap and just start adding content to your website and syndicate it to social media sites. People can confuse “article marketing” with content marketing. Article marketing is mainly used to create links to your website and to attract search engine traffic. In many instances these articles are of low value to the reader and although they bring attention to your brand, they don’t always contribute to your conversion goals. The first step in implementing a content marketing strategy is to create a content blueprint. Step 1: Define your business goals What do you want to achieve in the following 12 months in your business? Goals to consider are: Revenue targets, Increase customer base by 15%, etc Step 2: Identify your ideal website Personas Who are the ideal personas that you would like to visit your website? These are normally the decision makers or evangelists of your products or services: Chief Executive Officer, VP of Marketing, Chief Financial Officer, Housewives, etc. Step 3: List the types of information they require? For each of these personas, create a list of: Questions they typically ask, Information they seek about your company, products or service. Step 4: Determine the action you want your persona to take Download white paper, Download case study, View company video, Subscribe to your newsletter, etc. This information should help your visitor solve their problem, build credibility and ultimately persuade them to engage with your company. Step 5: Research search keywords Use keyword research tools such as Wordtracker, SEO Book, Market Samurai or similar tools to: Identify the list of questions used in search, Identify niche topics that you can create content for, Look for Top 10 lists, Best of, etc. ideas. Step 6: Create your Blueprint Sort your content by Persona and create a site map and navigation plan to channel your content effectively to your visitor. For each content piece, decide which Internet channels you will syndicate to: Website, Blog, YouTube video, LinkedIn, Facebook, And others that your persona would frequent. Create your Online Marketing Plan Schedule regular dates on which to create and publish your content. Publishing regular content will increase your online visibility and create an online asset for your business. Measure your Business objectives Install Google Analytics to monitor your website and blog performance, Set the business goals that you need to measure, Review goal achievement and keywords used to get to your site, Brainstorm creative ways of providing content related to your industry. Benefits of Content Marketing Many organizations still rely mainly on traditional marketing tactics which consists mainly of sending interruption messages to your target market. These messages are being ignored or filtered by people who wish to find your marketing messages when they are ready. By incorporating “Content Marketing” into your marketing mix you can increase sales and profitability and realize many benefits: Syndicating your content on various social media sites will encourage conversation about your content and will support any “word of mouth” strategy that your business has. Good information encourages people to link to your content thus creating increased referral visitors to your website. An additional benefit is that good content can generate many referral links which improves your Google rankings and in-turn increases the number of visitors and online brand visibility. Good content reduces your need to use paid advertising as you will continue to attract more qualified visitor traffic, instead of continually having to pay to keep getting more visitors. By including Social Media into your company’s communication strategy· you will be able to target and get to the “Generation Y” population that is increasingly becoming more important in the business world. Conclusion The Internet provides the ideal platform for any business to generate leads. The way to increase your online presence is through “Content Marketing”. By continuously publishing valuable and relevant information you will be creating an online asset for your business.  Good content will lead to conversation about your company and its products creating “word of mouth” referrals. Contact WSI Internet Marketing Barrie today for more information to have your company found online. http://www.wsiadvantage.com