Search Engine Optimization

In the world of SEO, it is very easy to lose the forest for the trees. Sometimes it seems like the entire industry is only focusing on one thing and its importance for a site’s SEO. That one ranking factor gets analyzed, over-analyzed and blogged to death by the industry. One such ranking factor is content. “Content is King” is replayed over and over online, and while that is true, some sites are cutting corners because they think it’s just a numbers game; the more content they pump out, the better. That isn’t true.

Contrary to SEO myth, there is no “right” amount of content the search engines are looking for to make a site rank well. It doesn’t matter how many words you have on a page, how big your site is, or how many blog posts you can churn out in a week. More content doesn’t automatically mean better results.

Some black hat SEO firms will recommend that clients outsource their content overseas because they can get a dozen articles written for cheap. But if there is one thing to remember about SEO, it’s that you get what you pay for. When you pay $10 for an article, what kind of quality can you realistically expect to see? Chances are little to no research went into writing the article, and most likely the person on the other end was writing to hit a word count, not to actually write something useful.

Let’s say you run a company blog and are publishing a minimum of three blog posts a day. If they are three, great and informative blog posts, good for you and your staff! But if you can only manage to squeak out a paragraph or two, then what is the point? What value are you giving your readers if you aren’t actually saying anything? You may be routinely updating your blog with fresh content, but quality is far more important the quantity.

The same thing can be said for your website. How many pages on your site are full of fluff? Could you find a way to consolidate a few pages so you have one page that is really useful and informative for your visitors, as opposed to three or four pages that are just okay? Having a dozen extra pages on your site doesn’t do you any good if those pages don’t have the content to back up their existence.

Don’t treat the content you publish on third party sites as just another way to get links or “look good” to the search engines. Creating more content doesn’t mean you are doing a good job with your SEO if you are writing great content in the first place. Don’t get sucked into the hype of “more, more more!” Focus on creating great content that is going to provide real value for both your brand and the readers.

Content marketing is an essential part of SEO. Content marketing can help a brand or business establish themselves as an authority in their field, build a strong online reputation, increase brand recognition, connect with consumers, increase online presence and more. If your company isn’t producing content in some form—blogs, articles, videos, etc—then you’re behind the times and could be losing out to competitors who are. The key to content marketing is to produce quality, relevant and engaging content. The Google Panda update showed us that content that is anything but isn’t going to help you. In fact, it might even work against you. But creating outstanding original content isn’t always easy.

The first step in creating engaging content is to define who your audience is and define it well.

Don’t try to write content that is everything to everyone. Those pieces of content usually end up being the most shallow and generic. That doesn’t help the reader or your brand. Before you even begin to write, think about who your target audience really is.

For instance, let’s say your company sells office furniture like desks, cabinets, shelving, etc. You want to produce a video that shows off your newest conference room table that easily expands to accommodate more chairs. Who are you really producing that video for? What kind of company would be interested in a conference table that could shrink and expand? Who would have the decision making capabilities to submit an order and actually purchase your product? Those are the people you want to target, and those are the people you need to create your content for.

Once you’ve decided who your target audience is for that particular piece of content, then you have to decide what kind of message you are trying to get across to them. You need to show them how your content directly applies to them. Your expanding conference table is perfect for companies that have monthly meetings and bring in managers from other areas. They don’t want to have a large conference table all the time, because normally there are only four people in that office. But those monthly meetings see ten people. Your product solves their dilemma and your content needs to convince them of that.

What kind of headline is going to grab your audience’s attention? “Expanding Conference Table Video Demo” isn’t the most exciting or enticing headline. Your headline needs to resonate with your target audience and capture their attention. They are the ones who your content applies to, so they are the ones it needs to be primed for.

The internet has an unbelievable amount of search marketing potential for a business website but to just dive in and flail your arms around in the internet waters will not grow your business the right way. You have to take a step back and figure out which areas you want to be the most visible in and you will want to have a clearly laid out plan of attack. Let’s take a look at some of important ingredients you need to analyze when you put your content marketing strategy together:

Your Audience: You know your audience better than anybody else so you will understand their patterns and behavior more than most people especially if you have been in your industry for a long time. Step into their shoes and try to understand for a moment what type of approach they would like to see from you. What would entice them the most to respond? Before you market to your audience you must understand them 100% otherwise you could fall flat on your face.

Your Content: How is your content going to appeal to your audience? Your content has to be structured so that it will appeal to your audience in more ways than one. Everything from tone to style of writing is going to be an important step for you to become a popular force in your industry. Everything you do with your content must always appeal to your audience; if it doesn’t your following will never sprout. Your content also needs to be distributed in locations where your audience is going to be able to read it on a regular basis. It needs to be in high traffic areas and not just tucked away in article directories where it might never be seen.

Type of Content: Is your content the right content? Does it appeal to your audience? Is it savvy? Content needs to be refreshing and unique for others to want to link to you and read more. Put some personality into your content otherwise it is just another article sitting online not really doing much but taking up space. Good writing and interesting viewpoints go a long way.

Take the time and really think about your content and how you market your business online. Just shooting content from the hip will not allow your following and your brand to build how it should in the online space.