Simply put, content marketing is the new SEO. Googles Penguin update rewards companies that produce good content frequently by referring web visitors. While its still important to optimize your website for keyword phrases and to have links to your content from relevant websites, its even more important to create great content that gets shared on social media to drive web traffic and inbound links. If youre over-stuffing your content with keywords and buying links from spammy websites, you will get punished in your search engine rankings. As evidence of this contention, my website has 34 keywords phrases that are ranked in the top 3 search engine positions. However, for the top five keyword phrases that drive traffic to my website, I am ranked 100+, 100+, 100+, 48 and 90. Why is this? Its because Im creating content about these topics that is getting shared on social media sites.
According to Gleanster, at least 50% of your website traffic isnt ready to buy at their first conversion. However, you need to get marketing contacts at the top of your sales funnel in order to nurture them into leads. The best way to generate website traffic and fill the top of your sales funnel is to blog frequently and promote your blog through e-mail marketing and social media. Here are a few business blogging best practices:
Keep in mind that your blogging efforts wont pay off overnight. However, if you blog consistently using best practices, your website traffic will increase.
While blogging is the best way to drive traffic to your website, premium content offers like eBooks, videos and webinars are the best ways to convert that traffic into leads. Lead nurturing is the process of providing prospects with the appropriate content as they move through their buying process. At this stage, your goal is to get a website visitor to become a lead by exchanging a means of contacting them (typically an e-mail address) for a premium content piece that educates them on a topic important to them.
For example, consider the case of a family that just purchased their first puppy. Mom performs a search engine query on best fences for keeping dogs. She is directed to a blog post that she reads entitled, How to Make Sure Your Puppy is Safe and Sound in Your Backyard. Within the blog post, she is directed to an eBook entitled, The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Fencing for Dogs. She fills in her name and e-mail address and downloads the eBook. The eBook helps educate her on the options for fencing in the dog and positions the provider as a trusted authority. Shes not sold yet, but the fencing company can provide her with additional content offers that help her as she moves towards the final purchase. This is just one example of how premium content offers convert website visitors to leads. Im sure you can think of an offer that educates your potential buyers on your product or service.
My recommendation to all small and mid-sized businesses is to start planning your content campaign immediately. Many businesses outsource their content campaigns to inbound marketing agencies and serve as editors in the content campaign. Get started today!
Tags: Inbound Marketing ROI, Washington DC Inbound Marketing, B2B Inbound Marketing