Many small businesses are turning to search engine optimization (SEO) to generate more revenue. Simply put, SEO is the process of increasing a website’s visibility in search engine result pages such as Google. For example, if somebody is searching for “how to sell online,” the goal of an SEO strategy would be to appear at or near the top of that search results page. The problem is that many business owners don’t know which strategy or techniques will work for them. This article covers the best SEO strategy that has been proven time and again to increase sales: content marketing.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is simply creating and distributing content that appeals to your target audience. This could mean blogging, video creation, infographics, or any other type of media. Studies show that companies that blog generate 67% more leads, 434% more indexed pages, and 97% more indexed links, which all lead to improved SEO. The benefits of blogging go beyond just SEO. Each blog post is seen as an opportunity for your company to show off its expertise, establishing trust with potential customers. Once you have them on board, it’s much easier to convert readers into paying customers or clients later down the line.
How Does Content Marketing Work?
Content marketing works because people are almost always in one of two stages when it comes to a product or service: awareness and consideration. Awareness is the phase where they’re just learning about your industry – i.e., searching online for terms like “how to start an eCommerce store.” Once you’ve reached them at this stage with high-quality content, their eyes will be on you as a brand when they’re ready to purchase.
Research shows that millennials, who comprise nearly 85% of online shoppers, spend a significant amount of time online reading blogs. By appealing to them with relevant content at the right time, you’ll have a powerful tool to convert readers into customers and grow your brand’s reputation online.
What Type of Content Should You Create?
When it comes to generating leads for your company, two types of content work best: evergreen and timely. Evergreen refers to content that will always be relevant regardless of when it’s published. For example, articles about brainstorming business ideas are timeless content because they’ll still resonate with readers years down the line. Timeless content is best for building your company’s reputation online and generating traffic to your website over time while regularly bringing in new leads.
As the name implies, timely content is more time sensitive. These types of blog posts are more likely to go viral or become widely read and shared on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. One example would be a popular article about how customers can save money during Black Friday written just ahead of Thanksgiving weekend each year. This type of content works best for generating leads during a specific period, like the holiday season.
How Often Should You Post?
Publishing content regularly is essential to success with content marketing. Don’t publish too often and overwhelm your audience and don’t publish too infrequently and lose them. Publishing a bi-weekly or monthly blog post is a good rule of thumb. To publish relevant, high-quality blog posts at regular intervals, you can either hire a full-time writer or outsource the job to a professional blogger.
If you need money to invest in content marketing, you can always take out a business loan to reap the long-term benefits of increased revenue resulting from more leads and sales. Fintech (financial technology) firms like SOS Capital have been all the rage in recent years for their easy application process and flexible terms. Consider applying for one today to see how much of a difference it can make in your company’s bottom line.
