When a Business Website uses Content Marketing, it becomes a Magnet for Prospects, but not by selling, by Teaching.
By Thomas R. Reich PhD
Here are the 10 Most Surprising Benefits of Employing the Content Marketing Method
If you haven’t invested in Content Marketing yet, it might be because you are skeptical of the long-term benefits; reluctant to invest heavily in what you may think is a fad. You might be intimidated by what you perceive as a complex strategy.
Obviously any company would naturally be afraid of the unknown, and starting a strategy for their website that they do not fully understand. Maybe the company’s marketing department (or in a smaller company, you) are busy with other marketing strategies that you are convinced still work for today’s internet.
If this sounds like something happening in your company, it is time to realize that content marketing is one of the most practical, effective, and useful marketing strategies available to small and medium sized business today.
In fact, just a few years ago, content marketing was just for large companies with even larger budgets and advertising campaigns to go with the content. Today, content marketing has reached a point where it can be used to lower marketing costs and pinpoint targeted prospects to actually get results from the internet.
Here are 10 Surprising Benefits of Content Marketing:
More Targeted Content on the Company Website Means Prospects spend more Time on the Website
With a good targeted content marketing program, a business website is built out with pages and blogs concentrating on a specific targeted topic. That targeted topic is inclusive of your product or service. As the search engines begin to send traffic to the company wesite for that targeted information, the prospects are within your website even though they were just searching for information about a product or service not where to buy it. The more information, videos, pictures and blogs on that topic they find on the company website the longer they stick around.
The longer they are on the company branded website the more familiar they become with your product and your brand. The better the content, and the larger the variety of content the greater the chance the potential client will stay longer on your website and within your branding.
Higher Visibility to the Search Engines
Every page posted to a company website, every blog, every video and picture provides higher and higher visibility to the search engines. Google and other major search engines “Index” every page on the internet that is properly listed and linked. More pages alone does not guarantee more search traffic, more quality pages and visuals does however. Duplicate pages, originally on another website does you no good at all and as a matter of fact, can even hurt your traffic.
All content must be original, targeted and clearly written for SEO and Meta data response. Pay attention to targeted long – tail keywords and topics that fit the targeted niche you have chosen for the company website. Topics frequently searched by your target customers can be researched by a good content marketing firm like Cheetah Marketing Group.
Attain Higher Domain Authority without PPC
The more quality content on your website the higher the company website domain authority will become. Consistent, updated high quality content will increase the perceived and real authority of the site and therefore the relevance, expertise and trust of your company. As the company website articles earn inbound links form external sources, the websites domain authority increases further yet.
The higher the domain authority of a company website, the higher search rankings it will attain, and therefore the higher organic traffic it will receive. Remember organic traffic is the best kind, it is 100% targeted to your core topic and it is the best kind of all it is free as opposed to PPC. The more organic traffic the more potential clients find your company’s website without formal and usually quite costly advertising.
Automatic Referral Traffic from other Websites.
As your Domain authority grows and the company reputation of expertees in the industry becomes unquestioned, others will ask members for your firm to write a guest post on their website. As long as that company or organization is not direct competition, such as a Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Supplier or Association related to the company it is a great potential traffic generator.
Make sure to get the agreement to place at least one back link to the company website from that article on their website. If that website is a high traffic website such as a Chamber of Commerce, it could mean hundreds of extra clicks interested in the company and its products or services. Again, this traffic generator costs you nothing but time, expertise and connections.
The Company’s Social Media and Social Shearing Sites become more Relevant and useful as traffic generators.
It is important to have a social media network and social shearing network, but not to interact with potential customers on the social sites themselves. This has long been proven to be unproductive for most small and medium sized businesses. However, as a traffic generator to the company website with targeted content, a good social network can be invaluable.
Now that you have a rich and varied core of content within your targeted topic, and you have a network of social media and social shearing sites branded to your company website and logo, syndicate them. Bind them together with what is called a share bar, which allows a visitor to share articles out to their followers with the touch of a mouse. It also allows your staff to share a different article every day or so to all your syndicated network. The shares are simple one line description of the article a picture and a link. This link brings them right back to the company website from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit or wherever they happen to see it!
Increase the Chance of a Comment or Contact Us, do not Forget the Auto Call Button!
With Content Marketing, the point is to crate a core of targeted information that answers as many questions about that targeted topic as possible. The trick is to write in such a way that leaves open questions, leaves the reader wanting more information. It is then that you need to have clear ways to contact the company, contact us, email, phone number maybe even a mailing list sign up.
Always end articles inviting a potential client to call or contact you with any questions or comments, and encourage them to do so, make it easy to start the call. But the key here it to always be tactful, do not “Advertise” Content marketing is about making the company the expert, the trusted friend.
The Company’s Reputation, Trust, Expert Status Greatly Improved.
Content Marketing has the added affect of improving a company’s brand reputation, the expert status it holds in the community and the trust potential customers feel towards the company after experiencing the expert content on the website.
A Content Marketing company website which is helpful, informative and enlightening helps potential clients think more highly of the company’s brand. Further, when potential clients see the company brand logo and graphics published on various social media brands it increases confidence even more.
Guest posts on leading community websites, clearly linked back to the company website, in a clear way adds those websites endorsement and credibility to the company website. All these factors together increase the company’s overall reputation, trust and expert status in their product or service.
Good Content on a Company Website Creates Tighter Customer Relationships with Existing Customers as well as Future Clients.
The better a company’s brand reputation, the easier it is to build the audience for that content, and the brand reputation grows even stronger. Brand reputation makes loyal clients that are encouraged to brag on the source of their purchase and recommend that company to friends and colleagues.
It is important to remain in contact with customers after the sale, follow up with more information on the product or service. Hold the clients interest, keep the company’s brand in the forefront of the clients mind as information, and as a loyal member of your client family they will become your best source of new prospects. There is no better lead than one sent by a loyal, satisfied and enthusiastic existing customer.
Customer Recommendations and Endorsements as Content can Rocket Interest.
It is important for any company to encourage endorsements and recommendations from their clients, but in content marketing we take it a step farther. In addition to the usual customer recommendations page, content marketing suggests articles as case studies on successful applications of your product or service.
Video interviews of clients happy with their purchase or ongoing service is always great content. Additionally, survey results of existing clients pointing out what they like most about a product or service builds positive re-enforcement of the company’s interaction with customers. Last, if you have installers or salespeople, articles of unusual installations or a particular situation where a company representative really helped out a customer in a time of need is also great content marketing material.
Content Marketing for Small and Medium Business can make any Product or Service Seem more Interesting.
No matter what product of service a company represents, Content Marketing can make it more interesting, intriguing and thought provoking if it is handled by a content professional. Even an un-sexy business like car mechanics can be a search magnet with the right articles on what a noise may be, or how to save money by preventive repair on an area not usually talked about.
Cleaning services can have content about improving health and losing weight simply by reducing dust mites, automotive tinting company’s can create articles on exotic sports cars to attract readers interested in cool looking cars. Even a yard service company can create articles on cinch bugs and nurseries can blog about exotic plants.
Great content marketing comes from great content writers like those at Cheetah Marketing Group, where we have created interesting and compelling content for over 30 years. Content is as effective as it is written, and the content marketing business website is as effective as its core of overall content.
Bonus: Content Marketing for Small and Medium Business Is Cost Effective.
Unlike expensive one time advertising, radio ads, cable TV spots, Magazine pages, printed material and the good old news paper, Content Marketing is an asset that stays virtually forever and builds with each new piece of content. While a radio ad is over in 30 seconds, a news paper ad in a day and a magazine ad in a week or a month, content never dies.
The other great thing about content marketing is that even the supplemental traditional advertising a company may do to increase traffic to the growing content website, can become part of the content core. Digital copies of the ads can be in a permanent part of the website preserved forever in archives for future customers to look at and reflect on. Once more those ads can be presented with a small article about them and linked with a unique URL to the search engines, and those ads become even more long term content!
Content marketing is inexpensive, safe, available for anyone in any industry, and beneficial in many different areas. The sooner you start investing in it, the sooner you’ll start to see results, and the better results you’ll eventually see. Whether you’re in it for the increased traffic, higher conversion rates, or just better relationships with your customers, there’s no reason content marketing shouldn’t be included in your marketing arsenal.
How Cheetah Marketing Group can help Your Company with Content Marketing
Compared to almost any other type of advertising, a well written, growing and well maintained content marketing website is the most cost effective form of advertising available to small and medium today. The best part of content marketing is that it enhances any other kind of advertising, yes it can be used stand alone, but used with other traditional advertising campaigns it only increases their effectiveness.
Very few businesses have effective writers within their organizations and if they do these writers are usually not familiar with writing for SEO and the on line search engines. Even if a company has a lot of great writers, that is actually a wonderful advantage for increased flows of material on the website, but are you an expert in constructing a Deep Content Marketing Business Website?
Cheetah Marketing Group developed Deep Rich Data in 2010 (one of the factors that created modern content marketing) and the new Deep Rich Data II a unique testing system. With Deep Rich Data II we can evaluate your company’s website and provide suggestions for moving it towards a compliant content marketing business website.
We can handle it all for you, the writing, SEO spinning, picture, social media, linking even the local outreach. It all depends on your level of need, and your commitment to a content marketing website. The evaluation if free, each program is customized to the needs of a specific company and we have been successful doing this since before there was a true internet!
Give us a call today, let’s talk, you need something to replace the yellow pages, maybe this is the answer for you!
Cheetah Marketing Group
Experience Matters
30 Years of Excellence
