The biggest mistake we make with content marketing is thinking that it’s easy. Creating quality, original content that’s also SEO-friendly and marketed well is no easy task. Unfortunately, content is where many businesses (especially startups) try to save money. Maybe the founder is writing the online content, or great content is being written but it’s executed poorly. If you want to optimize your content marketing, check out these nine tips:
1. Hire a professional writer: It’sobvious, right? However, many businesses learn this lesson the hard way. Hire a writer who’s an expert in both your industry and the kind of writing you need. A fantastic white paper writer might not be a great social media poster.
2. Hire a professional content marketer: Writing and marketing are two very different fields, and the odds of finding the perfect writer who’s also the perfect marketer are slim to none. If you have a marketing team, make sure you have at least one leader who specializes in content marketing. If you don’t, start looking for a contractor or permanent employee.
3. Make all content SEO friendly: Content marketing can include marketing photos and videos. If you use images (you should!) make sure they are also SEO rich with full descriptions and tags. If for some reason the image doesn’t load, you want to ensure visitors can still read the description to get the gist of the message.
4. Embrace white space: People naturally adore white space because it makes text seem less intimidating and jumbled. Aim to have no more than five sentences per paragraph, and break up text with quality images. Less is more.
5. Hire an editor: Writers are not editors (and vice versa). It’ll serve you well to hire a professional editor as well as a writer. However, if that’s simply not in the budget, get as many eyes on the content as possible before it goes live. It’s nearly impossible to catch your own writing mistakes.
6. Smart linking: Good content will have a modest amount of authority and/or internal links. This helps with SEO, and can aid writing by giving it clout and more information as the reader chooses to click. Links are a great tool when wielded with a soft touch.
7. Cite, cite, cite: Providing proper citations, again to authority links, can help bolster your trust factor. It also shows that you’ve done your research. Throwing in a few statistics not only gives you expert-level status, but also inches you closer to thought leader territory.
8. Ditch the passive voice: If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your bathroom hardware, perhaps ABC Company is a great choice for you. Upgrade your bathroom hardware with ABC Company, the industry leader. Which sentence is more appealing and makes you want to act? Passivity has no place in (most) online content.
9. Encourage comments: Fostering a community is an attainable goal, and one that many businesses don’t prioritize. Have a comment section on blogs, and keep your social media comment section available (it’s okay to require approval first to vet out trolls).
Improving your content marketing can dramatically improve your profits, and it’s relatively simple to do once you make it a priority. Your content is your online reputation. Make sure it’s impeccable.
from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1UY3UEx via transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1KBzV4B
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