Get more organic traffic
Content is what drives the web. It is how small businesses can compete with larger, more established companies. Providing fresh, unique content is always welcomed by search engines and readers alike. The question is why don’t small businesses embrace this concept for SEO?
Content can be expensive to create. This is what business owners always think. And I believe it is the fault of our industry. Some marketers know the value and have seen the results, but do a very bad job at conveying this to stakeholders.
The majority of successful websites receive more organic traffic from different blog posts than the home page of their websites?
Content that is researched, created by a professional, is executed with an SEO strategy that gets maximum exposure on the web can be some of the most impactful and converted marketing collateral in use today. That may sound like quite a statement, but for those in digital marketing, we have seen the results.
This doesn’t mean that your solution is to hire an MBA to work on your content. It is not about putting a perfect Word document out on the internet. It is about useful, interesting and engagement video, images, slide decks, pdf’s, case studies, analysis, etc.
Why don’t small businesses embrace the concept of content creation?
Being in your industry you know a lot that others don’t, it is that simple. Since people in and out outside of your industry are always wanting to learn more, you are in a great position to share with them. This will bring traffic to your website and establish your business as an authority on subject matter.
Creative Content is Something That Should be Mass Produced
Before the internet, creatives struggled to have their artistry put to the test. Previously, thoughtful decisions had to go into choosing what content would be put on a flyer, printed in the newspaper, run on radio or tv commercials, etc.
The reason was cost. It was expensive and sometimes risky to put a large portion of a marketing budget into a campaign or even a magazine ad. Creative departments, agencies and even freelancers would put together multiple ideas and present to decision makers. These were scrutinized and evaluated and what often times happened was that the idea that would appeal to the larger audience would be selected, even if it was bland as vanilla.
No More Excuses for Marketing
To say that marketing is in the middle of dramatic changes is an understatement. The opportunities for placement of messaging online is increasing exponentially. It does not matter if you have written words, images, video or audio. Platforms have developed audiences that can access your information when they want and as often as they like.
This is far different than trying to squeeze your radio ad into the morning drive time because that is when most people were listening. Online access has brought convenience to entertainment and learning. Because of this, the audience is in charge of what information they want is to engage and when.
Cost and Niche have Changed Marketing Forever
There are no longer any barriers to your business and the audience. The cost of digital marketing is not only affordable, but allows for micro-testing . What this means is that if you have a bunch of ideas and don’t know which one is most appealing to the consumer, there is no longer a need to have a bottleneck in the process allowing one person or a team guessing which one will be best. You can put it all online and see how the market reacts.
As long as it is in line with your Brand, there should be no hesitation to put it online. In some cases you may even want to put a few ad dollars behind some to test. This allows the market to decide and allows for real data rather than guesses from seasoned professionals.
For all of you creatives that have in the past complained that your best ideas never got a chance, it is now time to prove it.
Too Much Is Not Enough
The thing about online marketing is that the internet can take as much as you can give. Even if you have a small business with a website of 10 pages, write 100 more. If you have a YouTube Channel with 3 videos, create one a day for the next year. If you think a Facebook post once a week is sufficient, post 10 times a day.
If you are putting out a quality message consistently, then do not hesitate to put out a lot of it. If you are active yourself on social media, then I am willing to bet there are one or two accounts you like that you sometimes think, “I wish they would post more often”. What usually happens is you end up finding other accounts that are similar.
Whether you are a marketing geek like me, you love fishing, can’t get enough pictures of monster trucks, are a foodie, or whatever you have a passion for… there is no reason not to produce much more. I promise, the algorithms on these platforms will not allow you to overwhelm anyone.
Does it Help SEO to Have Videos on your Pages?
Search Engines are constantly refining their definition of a good user experience for their results. Breaking up huge blocks of text with images that help to define the content is a good example. Adding video to either recap or further explain a part within the individual paragraphs are always welcome.
Since the search result pages are continuously providing an increased amount of video on the first few pages of Google, it is just a good idea to embed videos within your website pages where appropriate. Do not however rely upon just adding video without other content. That is just not good SEO practice.