Have you ever seen business websites that have a blog section and a great deal of written articles that are pertaining to their trade? Why are these brands spending so much resources to create these articles? Surely they have other better things to do?
Give it a thought. You’re not here today by chance. Rather, you’re reading this very article either through our successful distribution on social media platforms or you’ve found it via your favourite search engine. Whichever the channel, this is the reward of content marketing. We’ve well reached you by creating content that you’re interested in. Delve deeper. We’ve got more to share.
1. What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the action or business of promoting and selling products or services which involves the creation and sharing of information in order to obtain and retain customers. Information can be conveyed to customers in numerous ways which includes news, photos, videos, infographics, how-to guides, best-of articles, etc. Content marketing should never seen as something separate. Rather, it is part of the marketing process. Content marketing is an integral in any form of marketing because quality content is needed in all forms of marketing.
2. What is Search Engine Optimisation?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of increasing the visibility of a website or even a single web page in the Search Engine Ranked Page (SERP) results. From a business entity’s perspective, an increase in the website’s visibility correlates to an increase in traffic. Every time the audience enter your website, your brand is extended to them. As they navigate and read the information on your website, it presents a brand experience. This brand experience forms an impression on your audience that influences their response to your call-to-action.
3. The Different Types of Website Content and Their SEO Value
There are many different types of website content that can be utilised for SEO. Each content creates different SEO impact and the effectiveness of these contents depends greatly on how you’ve creatively used them to market your business.
a. Images
Images or photos are great visual content for websites. An image is worth a thousand words. Images attract the necessary attention and encourages the audience to read on. If you are in a trade where you need more than text to exhibit your products or services, images are your best bet. Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second on average. Image search makes up part of this enormous number. Websites that do not optimise their images for SEO will never have them visible on search engine results. Good images highlights your professionalism, projects a good brand image and improves your credibility. Good images builds your backlink profile if you allow them to be shared.
b. Videos
Videos provide greater entertainment value compared to photos. If an image is worth a thousand words, then a video, which is made up of many single static images, is definitely worth more. Videos portray motion and if you’re in a trade that requires movement to exhibit your products or services, it’ll be a choice medium for you. Videos are usually housed in social media platforms like YouTube and Vimeo because these platforms offer better visibility and distribution. Good videos (that are hosted on external platforms) are capable of stirring interest, which increases the chances of the audience visiting your website for the entire brand experience. Videos (that are hosted on your website) are great time sinks which increase the amount of time users spend on your website. Google Analytics measures the amount of time users spend on your website and it could be one of the ranking factors for SERP results!
c. Infographics
Infographics are images that contain informative content for your audience. Information graphics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information in a quick and concise manner. These graphics provide ease of reading and simplifies lengthy information. When used effectively and timely, infographics can become viral on social media platforms. Good infographics are essential for building backlinks to your website if you’ve permitted its sharing.
d. Articles
Written articles or blog posts are great mediums to provide content to your audience. It’s the most widely used medium type because of its cost-effectiveness. Anyone who can write a blog post can harness the power of words to create valuable content for their audience. Articles are great for SEO at two levels. At the macro level, they tell the search engines what your website is all about. It increases the relevancy of your website to your trade (that is if you’ve chosen to write about matters that are relevant to your niche). At the micro level, every single article is a piece of content that is capable of reaching and satisfying your target audience. People make search queries that are specific and this usually requires long-tail keyword searches. Long-tail keywords are less competitive and this literally means your article page will have a higher visibility if you’ve optimised it for keyword search. Good articles create backlinks for your websites. If people like what they are reading, they’ll share it.
4. The Benefits of Content Marketing
Besides providing SEO values, content marketing benefits a business in various aspects. Just like most forms of online marketing, content marketing has an indefinite influence. The marketing influence is present for as long as your video or blog post is made available in the online world. Smart marketeers employ content marketing as part of their marketing strategy because they do not want to rely solely on paid advertisements whose influence is limited by the depths of their pockets.
Content marketing seeks willing prospects. If a prospect is not at all interested in your content’s topic, they would never have searched for it and arrived at your website. Obtaining a keen prospect is half the battle won. The final victory would depend on your ability to convince them to respond to your call-to-action.
When done right, consistent content marketing can become autonomous. Once a piece of content starts to have adequate authority or visibility, marketeers can cease distribution effort on that piece of content. It becomes an independent piece that is capable of bringing traffic and leads for your business.
Spend some time to create worthwhile content for your audience. Go for quality rather than quantity. Serve your audience first. Fulfil their online goals and the rest of the rewards will be given to you!
