A client recently came to us with the question: how do all the elements of content marketing fit together and how do they bring people to my website? That’s a great question that made us realize that you shouldn’t feel like you have to be a marketing expert to formulate an answer.
Content marketing does have its complexities but can be carried out gradually and still have a positive impact on your bottom line. We’ve rounded up some resources to help you understand how the different types of content marketing can work together to increase website traffic and strengthen your digital presence, and how you can start implementing these tactics, little by little.
What do you mean when you say content marketing?
Content marketing is relevant to traditional marketing methods (think print, phone, broadcast, etc.) and digital marketing. For this scenario, let's focus on digital marketing and assume that you've identified your target audience.
You want to attract prospects to your website, and in turn your product or service, and convert them into paying customers. Content marketing is a great place to start.
It involves the creation and sharing of material that doesn't always directly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services. Content comes in many forms such as blogs, whitepapers, eBooks, videos, infographics, ads, and more, and can be shared across social media, your website, search engines, and other digital platforms.
Even with the all the different types of content out there and the many platforms you may use to communicate each piece, they're all connected to your business. And whether or not your content lives directly on your website, it allows you to target audiences across multiple channels, all working together to draw attention back to your website.
My time is limited, how do I prioritize different content types?
Content marketing comes in many forms and as a small business owner, it’s not always reasonable, or even possible, to do it all. That’s a-okay. Focus on your strengths when deciding where to start.
- Do you enjoy researching industry trends and keywords? Get to work on improving your search engine optimization (SEO). Figure out what keywords your audiences are using and searching for, and sprinkle them throughout each relevant piece of content (including your website). This will increase your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your site.
- Are you a great writer or know one who understands your business? Create blog posts, develop whitepapers, or write eBooks.
Beginning with what you know and building out from there will allow you to establish your digital presence with valuable, quality content.
How to share your content across multiple channels
More often than not, one piece of content can be transformed into other types to further attract prospective customers.
Content can be repurposed for your various channels – featured on social media as micro-content to attract your readers to your website, used as a written guide or script for relative audio and/or video content, serve as references that highlight educational information, and incorporated into your email marketing as a method for information sharing and lead generation.
Does your website already have captivating text that explains your product, services, and/or brand? Save some time and repurpose your existing website content to share on your social channels, email newsletter, or create ads. Using this strategy helps you gain a better understanding of what is resonating with your audiences without creating an entirely new piece of content.
With each repurposed piece, always link your audience to the original and point them to your website. It's fascinating to see the many ways one piece of content can grow your online presence.
Continue to increase your website traffic
You’ve decided on which core content pieces to develop, now you need to keep a consistent content calendar to stay timely and relevant in your market. Even if you’re repurposing your existing content, it’s important to post regularly on social media, share different variations of content on your blog, and prioritize using those keywords. These efforts will continue to improve your search engine results and increase your website traffic.
If you’re looking for new ways to attract customers to your website and have it within your budget, implementing effective paid search ads can help you reach that goal. Paid search, or paying to have your ad show up at the top of a user’s search results, is a scalable strategy for growing your business. Incorporating relevant keywords into your ads is especially important with paid search campaigns because it allows you to target people who are specifically looking for your product or service – resulting in a higher click-through rate and more consistent website traffic.
Next steps
When executed effectively, each piece of content that you develop and release into the digital world can bring people to your website and convert prospects into customers. But some content performs better than others. Keeping tabs on which pieces are performing well (and which are not) will give you insight into where to focus your time, energy, and dollars.
If you’d like to chat about your website, content marketing, or how we can work together to grow your business, schedule a one-on-one meeting with our team today. You can do it, we can help.
