Digital Content Should Now Be An Important Part Of Your Online Strategy

By: Dale Lovell - Managing Director of Search News Media

published 1295879320

If you have a small business website – either promoting your services online or selling directly online, now is the perfect time, for small businesses to fully embrace digital content as an important part of their online strategy.

In a digital world where 90% of users now find websites through search engines and one of the most important factors for attracting visitors depends on what words are on those web pages, has the phrase ‘content is king’, ever been more true?

With the advent of personal search results and social media websites like Twitter increasingly linking to – and sending sales leads to - websites with strong content, small businesses that may not have the marketing budgets to outperform large brands can compete when it comes to online content.

For example, if you own a mountain bike shop in Wales selling mountain bikes and accessories online, the chances are that as a company you will know a fair bit about local mountain bike trails – and what bikes and accessories are best for those particular trails. This is knowledge that anyone  researching on the internet mountain bike trails in Wales is likely to find of interest, it is also knowledge that relates directly to your product and services: the internet may be the local High street these days, but it is also the world’s research library. Combine the library research element on your expertise on your product or service as well as offer these relevant visitors the opportunity to buy products from you after their research is done and you are half way there to building a successful online business.

While the mountain bike example is fairly obvious, the same process works for nearly everything – plasterers (plastering and DIY tips), IT Consultants (advice on computer maintenance), grocers (what vegetables are in season), marketing agencies (how to market your business tips), estate agents (10 top London hotspots)

Put simply you are creating expert content that potential customers interested in your product or service will find of interest. The content you are creating acts as a filter, so largely only those interested in finding out more about your product or services read the article. And the same process works if you are targeting B2C or B2B.

Writing the right content is one thing, but once you’ve created your content, there are number of things you need to consider before and after you publish online so that you can maximise the number of potential customers that read your article and are more likely to buy your product or services.

The first is possibly one of the most important and that is Keyword Research. Various online tools can show you exactly what keywords are popular with internet searchers. Use the Google Adwords Tool and type in a phrase to see what people are looking for relating to that phrase. Look for phrases that are popular, but not too popular or too broad as the chances are the competition will be extremely tough. For example if you sell ‘van insurance’ you are probably better using phrases like ‘Ford Transit Van Insurance Best Prices’ rather than simply Van Insurance as in all likelihood the large comparison websites will dominate these two word phrases.

Once you are comfortable with the keyword phrases you should ensure that the phrase you are targeting is in the title of the page and, wherever possible, repeated in the first sentence: the title of the website page and the opening paragraph are given a high level of importance by search engines like Google so repeating the keywords here will help your article appear higher in search engines. Other keywording tips to help include: keywording Alt tags for images on the page; using anchor text on internal urls written to specific keywords and the use Header tags within the page, again, targeting specific keywords.

While it can be tempting to simply repeat your keyword phrase again and again on the page, DO NOT do this as search engines are increasingly aware of these ‘black hat’ SEO techniques and will actually penalise your website (often not listing it in search results) for doing so. Writing real content, with an expert view, will naturally show search engine spiders that the content is real and of benefit to users.

When your website article is published, you should then look to promote it as much as possible: it is no good having written a fantastic article if no one reads it. There are a few simple tips to get some initial interest:

1). Post the link on your company Twitter profile (again using popular keywords to promote it);

2). Post the link on relevant message boards and forums for your industry.

3). Submit your article to relevant blogs and media outlets that you think may be interested in featuring your expertise, in exchange for running the piece you can insist that they publish a link back to your website along with your name and company details;

4). PR – you can generate considerable interest and inbound links to your website by creating a press release to circulate online and in local, relevant media. Press releases can be on anything from your company viewpoint on a particular industry issue to something even more simple like the announcement of a new expert article section: you’ll often be surprised at how the simplest of news can generate results, particularly with local media.

It is worth noting here that website publishers are increasingly looking for unique content, rather than simply syndicating old features, this is largely due to the way search engines now ignore anything they perceive as not original content, so if you do follow point 3 and submit your articles to other websites it is wise to submit different versions of your article, or offer them the chance to publish first of all.

Unlike many other forms of online promotion, Search Engine Optimisation does take time to perform and take effect, with considerable time and expertise required to get right, but if successful the return on investment for achieving high search engine positioning can be outstanding. The best things come to those who wait.

www.searchnewsmedia.co.uk