Isn't Content Just Blog Posts?

The word ?content? is bandied about often on the interwebs. What is it? And why do you need good content on your website now?

Content is an umbrella term that describes all of the information you have on or through your website that helps your site visitors understand who you are and why they should be listening to what you say.

Content can include web pages, podcasts, e-newsletters, infographics, and emails to your subscribers.

When you offer a product or service, it isn?t enough to just tell your prospective customers what you?re selling and how to buy it. That?s web copy. What they want to know is what?s in it for them.

So to establish yourself and your company as an expert in your industry niche, you need to offer more to the visitors on your pages.

This is where content comes in.

• If you are selling running shoes, you should be offering content about such topics as how to work your way up to running a marathon, what to do after a running injury, or list dates of upcoming events such as fundraising races or new cross country trails that just opened.
• If you are selling investment coaching, spend some time educating your prospective client about the stock market or what mutual funds are, or list different options for long range financial planning for retirees.
• If you?re selling a product or service to homeschoolers, tell your website visitors the latest research findings about one-on-one instruction, provide a calendar of homeschool events, or offer an in-depth explanation of how to set up a vibrant learning area right at home.

Give your visitor more than they expect when they arrive on your site, and you?ve not only caught their attention, you?ve opened the door to a valuable customer relationship.

Strategically craft your online content so when your prospective customer searches for answers, your web page ranks on the first page of results.

Create engaging, authoritative content, and your visitor will stay longer on your website. Longer visits can also boost your search engine ranking.

But it?s not enough to just fill your web pages with rambling paragraphs full of random information. Your content needs to be helpful to your visitor.

When you know the questions your potential customers are asking, you can answer them with content that includes recent research or personal experience.

With relevant and useful content, not only will your visitor find answers to their questions, they will also feel confident that your site is the authority for the topic, and their interest in your product or service will grow.

Review your website to see if you have included valuable content on each page. You can have pages that are specifically designed to sell your product or service, but make sure the bulk of your website is good, solid, up-to-date content.

Is That All?

Of course, just because you have outstanding content on your web pages doesn?t mean people will see it. You need to promote your content as well through social media channels and other outlets. This content is an extension of what you have on your site. If you market your content well, you will get more traffic.

Your images, links, and meta tags along with the headlines you use can have an impact on your website traffic. Knowing how to optimize these will help your search engine ranking as well. Even the words you place on your call-to-action buttons can make a difference in how your visitor reacts to your content.

To know if your content is working for you, you?ll need to monitor your website analytics and make a note of what?s attracting attention and what?s not.

Knowing where your visitors spend the most time on your site can help you understand how close they are to purchasing your product or service.

Having a clear path through your content is important as you grow your relationship with your visitors.

Promote the good content and cull the non-productive stuff so everything on your website flows together to take your prospective visitor from curious to customer.

How Much Content Do I Need?

With the mass volume of content online today, you?d think everything is covered, and you?d be right, sort of. While there may be other companies who offer what you do, no one has the vital piece that makes your company special?you, and your unique position on the topic.

In order for your website to stay fresh and continue to help your visitor, you need to continually produce new content or update old content. Of course, this takes time, and if you?re busy working on developing your product or service, you don?t want to interrupt your flow to crank out blog posts, e-books or email sequences.

This is where I come in. I love writing and creating content. I thoroughly enjoy taking an idea and developing a clear piece of content that is useful, authoritative and relevant to the topic at hand.

If you have any questions about how to turn your website into an authoritative destination for web traffic in your niche, drop me an email. I?ll take a look at your site and offer some pointers on how to make it content-rich and visitor-friendly.