You may have heard that content marketing, or digital marketing, can make a big difference for your business. And it’s true. Compelling content, whether it’s your website content, persuasive copywriting or a content marketing strategy, attracts an audience and builds relationships with them, converting them into prospects and paying clients.
But knowing that and consistently publishing compelling content for your website are two different things entirely.
Which of These Best Describe Your Content Marketing Plan?
- You want to attract visitors to your website and consistently win clients, but you are overwhelmed by the content marketing jargon and don’t know where to start. You aren’t sure if it’s for you and before you jump in, you want to make sure there will be a return on your investment.
- You understand the basics of content marketing and know you should be writing blogs and articles and sending out an email newsletter, but you are maxed-out and just don’t have the time to write your website content, much less weekly content the way the pros recommend.
- You aren’t confident in your writing ability, or don’t like writing, and want to spend your time and energy in more fulfilling aspects of your business rather than wrestling with website content and the finer points of content marketing.
- You get it. You know content marketing works to grow an audience that builds your business. But by this stage in the game, you’ve figured out that your time is worth a lot and you want to partner with a pro to do it for you so you can focus on the work that only you can do.
No which of these reflect who you are as a business owner, this quick guide will give you a blueprint for how to make your website work with Content Marketing. From making sure your website copy speaks to the ideal audience to increasing visitors to your website content marketing is effective at attracting an audience and transforming them into clients.
Getting Started
Step 1: Clarify Your Message
Before you can worry about how to get people to your website, you first need to prepare it for them to come. Just getting them there will NOT serve your purposes of using digital marketing to increase quality leads and land new clients. You also need to create an environment that engages visitors and harnesses their attention.
Step 2: Prepare Your Website
Clarifying your message for your audience in Step 1 is the perfect start. But after ensuring every page of your site speaks to your ideal client, next you will want to harness the traffic with an email opt-in incentive, a free gift that you give your visitors in exchange for their email address.
Email is not dead. It remains the single most effective digital marketing tool and shows no sign of letting up. If you want to be effective with your website, continuing the conversation long after visitors leave your website is the way to do it. Paired with an automatic email sequence that gets delivered over time, emailing visitors valuable information, updates, freebies, and offers will give you the opportunity speak directly to them.
Once your email marketing is in place on your website, you can turn your focus toward developing a Content Marketing Strategy that attracts an audience of buyers using content such as blog posts, podcasts, videos and more.
Step 3: Publish Quality Content Frequently
You’ve done the hard work of clarifying your message to attract the right audience and prepared your website for visitors to engage with you. Now it’s time to produce content, which is the engine that drives your website and makes it begin to really work for you. Now you can focus your efforts on increasing your traffic, and content publishing does just that.
Why is content publishing so powerful? Logically speaking, if people don’t know your exact website address, they won’t be able to find your website unless it appears in search engine results.
When your website is optimized for search with the keywords people are typing into search engines to find services like yours, you stand a greater chance of Google or Yahoo selecting your website to serve up to searchers. When this happens you gain what’s called “organic” traffic. This is valuable exposure to your business and services.
The more content you publish that meets your ideal client’s needs and helps them, the more value you create for them — and your business. Not only do they learn to see you as an authoritative resource, so do the search engines that will serve up your business again and again to new audiences and prospective clients.
Your Turn
If your website isn’t working for you by attracting new visitors who reach out to inquire about your services, these 3 simple, yet powerful steps can make a difference. Where are you at on the journey to making your website work? Tell me in the comments below — I’d love to hear from you!