So what is all the talk about having a lot of "content" on my website? And what is "content" exactly? And how will it help my business grow and prosper? I get these questions from my internet students all of the time. Let me say this?Having a lot of great content is one of the key ingredients to those websites that are successful and profitable.
Once I explain the value of content to my students they almost always chime back with "but I can't write!" Never fear, there is always an answer for the creative mind.
1. Don't Like to Write - Find Those that Do
One of the simplest solutions if you don't like to write is to find those that do.
Where? Elance.com is a good place to start. They have all kinds of writers that write on all subjects. Sign up for an account and post a job. Try to be as specific as possible as to your writing needs. For example, topic, style, word count and so on. You will receive back bids from a numbers of authors. Read what they have to say and read their sample works. A little tip: if you go with the cheapest guy on the block, you will probably get poor work. So it is better to at least go middle of the road in terms of pricing. Expect to pay a minimum of $15 an article for about 400 words or so. Another little tip is to give 2 authors the same project and see which one produces the better work.
2. Press Release - Hear all About It!
There is a fine company called PRWeb.com that will distribute your press releases. It's not free and depending upon what kind of "contribution" you want to make, it will cost anywhere from $10 to $80. The key here is to study their website and learn. A Press release is not a sales letter and they post guidelines and even have a teleconference to let you know how to get the most out of your press release campaign.
3. OPA - Other People's Articles
You can go to any number of article directories and use their articles for FREE. But remember to use the author's resource box at the end of the article or you are violating copyright laws. A resource box has the author's name, small bio and their website address. Go to Google, type in 'Article Directories' and a whole slew of them will appear. I like to go with the better known ones that have quality content.
4. Clubs, Organizations and Trade Magazines
Let's say that you need content for your gardening website that specializes in perennial gardens. There are probably thousands of gardening clubs, organizations and trade magazines that have newsletters or materials you can reprint. Contact them and let them know you are looking for quality articles, newsletters, tips, secrets, ideas on perennial gardens. You might just be surprised how much information they would be willing to share as long as you give them credit for their work and publish their website address in return.
5. Start a Blog - Never-ending content
Try blogspot.com and set up your free blogger on your website. If you don't know how to do it, just get your favorite webmaster to set it up. It isn't that complicated but it can be invaluable. You can get it going by making your own posts. You can share your own information like " 3 Easy ways to keep your gardens bug free this summer" or you may have read something in a magazine that says " Ortho has come out with Zappit bug spray that will keep your gardens beautiful all summer long'I have used it and here is what I found that maybe useful to you." You can comment, question, inform on a blog. Keep your blog useful and people will come to visit and hopefully contribute regularly.
6. Testimonials - Why people should do business with you?
The more testimonials you can get the better. You may have to offer an incentive for people to take the time to write you a testimonial longer than a sentence or two. Let's say you sell custom made cowboy hats. You know people love them because they come back and buy more than one. You could offer an incentive such as "If you love our cowboy hats, we would love to hear about it. When we receive your letter telling us why you love our hats so much, we will send you a coupon for 20% off your next hat purchase." And then you have a testimonials section flooded with letters from your customers. If you can scan them in so people can see the originals, all the better for credibility.
Hopefully, you now understand how to get great content on your site without picking up a pen or pounding away on the keyboard. Our next article will discuss why content is so important and how it can help you with your search engine rankings and ultimately result in sales.
Over the long term, which I suggest is 12 to 24 months, good-quality, highly focused and regularly updated content websites will triumph.
Google and the search engines are getting far better at separating the wheat from the chaff. They are 100% focused on finding the best content for each particular search request.
Once the search engines have visited your site and made an initial positive assessment, they will keep coming back and re-indexing your content. The more content you publish, the more frequently they will return. The more they like what they see, the higher they will rank you on the search results pages. The higher up the results list you appear, the more people will see your links and click on them. Hopefully, some of these visitors like what they read so much that they link to it from their websites or blogs. These inbound links from other sites are seen as positive endorsements of your content by the search engines, which respond by improving your site's position on the search results pages.
And so the virtuous circle goes on and the traffic to your website increases.
The moral of this story is: keep publishing great content and don't give up just because you don't see instant results.
But this all takes time.
What can you do if you want to increase the number of visitors coming to your website?
There is a lot you can do. In fact, if you undertook all the activities that could build traffic, you would have no time to create content.
So where should you focus your early marketing efforts to get the greatest long-term benefits?
The answer is to build your presence, reputation and authority with your target audience so that you have a firm foundation of loyal and supportive readers who will help spread the word about you and your site.
To achieve this goal in the shortest possible time, you should focus on the handful of people in your market who can make a big difference. They will be characterized in the following ways:
1. They have a relevant audience of their own, probably via their own website or blog.
2. They have a good reputation for being authorities in your sector.
3. They are interested in what you write about.
4. They have shown they are happy to provide links from their site to other websites.
These are the people you need to engage with, so they will talk about you and what you have to say. If you are mentioned in articles written by perceived experts, you become endorsed as an expert yourself. This will bring targeted and relevant traffic to your website and will start building a loyal audience.
So how do you work with these very busy people who are continually being pestered for endorsements?
Here are some good ideas:
1. Get on the Radar - The best way to get on another blogger's radar is to get him or her to see you as a useful and helpful ally. Most bloggers' sites allow people to add comments after articles. The quality of these comments improves the site and turns it into a community. To get noticed, you should regularly add good-quality, well-thought-out comments on all the sites you want to work with.
2. Link to Their Blogs or Websites - Every successful blogger or website owner knows the importance of inbound links, so show your support by providing links to those sites, referring to specific articles (with links) and talking about them in comments and forums on other people's websites.
3. Get in Contact - Once you have established yourself as a supporter, it is time to get in touch directly. But a word of warning; DON'T go straight in with a request for a link to your website. This will undo all the good work you have done so far. First you need to build a personal relationship, so think about how you can help the person be more successful. Here are some approaches that I know have worked:
a. Ask if you can do an interview, which you will publish on your site. Better still, make it a podcast that you publish on iTunes and similar sites.
b. Offer to write an article about a subject you know is highly relevant to that person's audience for exclusive publication on his or her website. Try to become a regular guest writer.
c. Ask if you can republish on your website a specific article he or she has written.
d. If you have written an ebook, invite the person to be an official reviewer.
e. Ask him or her to comment on a particular article on your site that is relevant to something he or she has previously said.
4. Meet in Person - Nothing beats meeting in person to cement a relationship. Arranging to meet is usually best achieved at industry events, unless you are fortunate enough to live near the person.
5. Encourage Community on Your Website - Once you have engaged with all the key influencers in your sector, your ultimate goal is for them to start visiting your website regularly to see what you are writing about. When they visit, you ideally want them to leave comments or participate in your forum. For this to happen, you need to have created a community where you are visible and active.
Summary
Engaging with and being recognized by the key online movers and shakers in your niche is one of the fastest ways to build a core audience and credibility. Do everything you can to help these people become successful, and you will reap the rewards. Remember, to have friends you've got to be a friend!
Both Wazir Singh & Miles Galliford are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.