The Fine Art Of Creating a Guest Posting Strategy
When was the last time you created a guest posting strategy? How carefully do you choose the host sites for your content?
Guest blogging (content placement) is one of my favorite ways to build good links, expand a company’s reach, build authority, and bring more traffic to a site.
Guest posts can also be a smart alternative to paid links — many believe the links acquired through guest posting are worth more because they’re located in the content, rather than in a sidebar, or list of links. They’re less likely to disappear; they have a one-time cost, and give you the most bang for your buck.
If you want all this, however, you can’t just drop guest posts on the first site you come across. You have to choose the destination sites very carefully.
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Find Authority Sites To Guest Post On
Social Media Today recently published a list of the 10 Places To Find Blogs To Guest Post On. In it, the author listed several places that maintain collections of authority sites. This is excellent advice. It works well, but you can’t rely on this alone.
First, use search to find the ones the lists above have missed. Advanced search queries are a powerful way to find good guest posting opportunities.
You can find out more about advanced search queries here:
- Google Search Basics — Google’s Web Search Help
- Link Building Search Queries Collection — Search Engine Journal
- 21 Link Builders Share Advanced Link Building Queries — Search Engine Land
- Long List of Link Searches — SEOmoz
- Link Building Tools and Content-Based Link Opportunity Analysis– Ontolo
- Link Search Tool — Solo SEO
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Sort the Great Guest Posting Opportunities From the Good Ones
Finding the best places to guest post involves more than just locating authority sites on a related topic. In fact, if you focus purely on the link value of guest blogging, you’re missing out on the real SEO and marketing value this tactic can generate.
You need to find a spot to guest post that matches your goals and attracts your specific target audience. It should reflect the skills or strengths of your business, and open the door to future opportunities.
Being a copywriter, you’d think I’d post mostly on copywriting sites. This isn’t true. Instead, you’ll find I frequent SEO, social media, and Internet marketing sites, as well as various industry-specific sites. Why?
While there are plenty of authority sites in the copywriting industry, these sites have very little value for me:
- I’m rarely hired by other copywriters.
- My customers don’t read sites focused on copywriters.
- My business and I are painted into a corner. If I only post on copywriting sites, I’m perceived as being strictly a good writer. And while I do have excellent copywriting skills, I’m much more than that. To be a great copywriter, you need to know about more than just spelling and grammar. In reality, copywriting online involves SEO, social media, conversion optimization, branding, business, marketing, usability, buyer behavior, and much more.
- There’s no opportunity for growth, if I stay in the copywriting niche.
- I have more competition within the industry. This isn’t to say other copywriters disappear once you leave the industry, but unless you’re willing to get out there and stand out, you’ll blend in.
When I guest post, I focus on helping others see the value in quality copywriting and how to use it to their advantage. I help others understand how to integrate content into their businesses and websites, how to create winning content strategies, and how to achieve and surpass their goals because that’s what my products and services do.
In return, my guest posts have earned award nominations, become a recommended resource for governments and university professors, generated clients, and opened the door to opportunities I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. This is all in addition to the buzz, traffic, and additional links the practice initially created. This would have been much more difficult to accomplish if I had stayed on my own blog.
I would say these benefits are worth the time invested in choosing guest post destinations, and far more valuable than a $2,000 paid link. Don’t you think?
You can and should do the same with your guest posting strategy. To get started:
- Make a list of authority blogs and content-based sites.
- Study their style, direction and audience.
- Make connections with the site owners.
- Craft and publish your content.
That’s it!
Do you have a guest posting strategy?
Competitor Analysis: How Your Competitors Make Your Online Marketing Better
How can you play a game when you don’t know the rules? Like a good game of Risk, you need to measure up your opponents, their strengths, their weaknesses, and decide exactly what kind of a stand you’re going to make in order to claim your portion of the market share.
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Identify Your Competitors
Sit down and make a list of all the websites and/or businesses you would consider your biggest competition. If your customers aren’t turning to you, who are they turning to? Keep in mind this may not even be something in your direct niche.
For instance, one of my clients produced videos and taught classes on how to type in a healthy manner on various devices. They didn’t really have much in terms of direct competition, but what they were competing with is the many ergonomic devices out there. This made their competitor market huge.
So, yes, even if they don’t seem like direct competitors, if your target audience might choose someone else, you have to include them in your plans.
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List Their Strengths and Weaknesses
You need to know what it is your competitors do well and where they need to improve. So, make a list of strengths and weaknesses for each one. This will become your ‘power list’.
One you’ve recorded everything, go through, item by item and list how you’re better than that competitor and how you outperform them. Once you have this, you’ll be able to lay the groundwork for your copywriting, your marketing plan, your business model, and almost every element of your business.
Layout Each Competitor’s Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy your competitors use can tell you a lot about your market and how best to find them. By listing out the main way each of your competitors generate business, you’ll be able to use the same concepts and ideas yourself. Keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily mean copying them! Doing that will also mean you’ll copy their mistakes!
As an added bonus, you’ll be able to analyze each competitor’s marketing plan and identify areas, segments, and concepts they’ve missed. This will give you years of information and ideas for years to come, particularly if you refresh your competitor analysis on a regular basis.
Find out what types of places their using to generate traffic. Where are they advertising? What kind of referrers do they have for their website? What sorts of keywords are they using? Which audience segments are they targeting? Particular regions they’re performing well in?
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Competitor Content Analysis
Take a wander through your competitor’s content strategy. Start on their home page, go through their product/services pages, look through their blog posts, their guest posts, social media content, everything.
As you go through, make note of:
- What features and benefits do they place an emphasis on?
- What style and tone do they use?
- How have they structured their content? Does it work? Why or why not?
- Have they used link bait or buzz content? Was it successful, and if so, why and who did it attract?
- Have they been using specific social networks? Which ones? How?
- Where have they been placing content?
- Have they been focusing on certain target audiences, uses, products, or ideas?
At this point, you already have the framework for a comprehensive and effective marketing plan. You simply need to incorporate your own goals, priorities, ideas, and needs.
Case Study: Stitches Online Marketing Campaign and Website
I really dislike shopping. The people, trying on clothes in a strange place, figuring out what size I need…it’s just a never-ending headache for me. When I do shop for clothing, however, Stitches is one of only three places I’ll go.
The Stitches website and marketing campaign is ok, but I would personally like to see them match their clothing and the hip, warm atmosphere of their stores. In real life, Stitches staff are friendly, helpful, and know a thing or two about fashion. They are eager to help you find different sizes or create looks, but if you’re with something else, they’ll leave you to it and just help you switch sizes and return the clothes to the racks.
In short, they’re intuitive to the needs of the customer, and I’d love to see this reflected in their online marketing. I hope they’ll find some helpful tips here, and if not, I hope that you’re able to get some good ideas or thoughts for your own website.
Stitches Email Marketing
One of the emails I received from Stitches looked like this:
They use ‘Add Sale to Your Style!” as their subject line. Now, I know who this email is from, and remembered signing up for it, but a subject line like that made me think twice about whether it was another spam mail or not. Sometimes, it doesn’t pay to be clever!
I guess my real issue with the tagline/subject line is that, when I buy something on sale, I don’t want it to look like I bought it cheap! I want it to be my dirty little secret. I DON’T want my clothing to look like I bought it on sale!
I think they could have come up with something far more effective. Even “Stitches Fall Fashion Sale” or “Fall in love with Stitches’ fall fashions” would have been better.
Once you open the email, you get this:
Looks good, right? Amazing sales! (To be honest, I can’t remember if it gave me a choice between text and html emails when I signed up, but if it didn’t, it should! They should at least add tags to the images so I can figure out what the email is about without downloading the images.)
My biggest complaint with this email is that I want to be able to click on the various sales advertised and immediately start buying! Unfortunately, when I click on the $3 knit tops and leggings ad, I get this:
And then this:
And when I click on the “graphics tees” ad, “graphic hoodies”, and the “amazing jeans” ad, I get the same thing. If I had wanted to click through for the faux leather jackets, I’d have discovered they disappear completely on the site, with no hint as to where they may be.
It’s really too bad they missed the sales opportunities in their email marketing campaign. I would love to see them code each ad separately, so that when I click on one, I can find the sales items instantly. Now, as soon as I land on their home page, I find myself thinking “where are they? Is it only certain styles? Are they in a different section?” Even if they linked them directly to the category pages, it would boost their conversions.
Website Marketing and Usability
I thought they might have coded the ads separately on the website homepage, but alas, these weren’t clickable at all. In fact, if you look in the bottom left corner of the main graphic, you’ll see there is a choice of 4 main home page graphics. This was difficult to spot and impossible to use. Clickable flash would have been a much better choice. This is prime real estate that could be boosting the interest in their products!
Well, I shouldn’t say none of the images weren’t clickable. The ’6 Reasons To Dream of Jeans’ article? When you click on the image for it, you immediately get a new tab with the main graphic and are able to page through a series of images depicting girls in various pairs of jeans. This doesn’t help me because I can see what I want, but still have absolutely no idea where to find each pair so I can order it.
Also, a bit of text about which body shape each style was best for, the benefits of each type of jean, or even how to tell the difference between the six styles would have been informational and given me a reason to look through them.
Category and Product Pages
I really liked their navigation and how, when you click on a category, the navigation stays open so you can easily switch between them. The text could have been bigger and easier to click, but it is one of the best designed features on the site.
The item pages like their graphics tees page was nice and clean and the products really pop out at you. That being said, I’m a little confused as to why there are jeans advertised above the fold in that section, or why they’re there at all really. The naming of the different products would have been a great spot for them to show off their creative side. Naming 10 shirts ‘graphic T’ tells me essentially nothing. Imagine: If I tell you they have a graphic T you should buy, would you know which one I meant? How about if I said the ‘Disgruntled Money Bags T’?
Have a look at their Monopoly themed t-shirt. There’s no text. I have no idea what the shirt is made out of. I don’t know if it’s going to end up being a dry clean-only item, and while we’re on the topic, why would it suggest belts to go with a t-shirt, when I’d be much more likely to buy a pair of matching jeans? Suggest belts on the jean product pages.
One company who does product pages astoundingly well is Think Geek. Their descriptionsare so much fun I’ve actually clicked through the different products just to see what they’d written. Stitches wouldn’t have to get that creative with their product pages, but information about the products written in a chic, hip voice would definitely improve their sales and help the customer connect with them a bit.
Overall, when I wander around on the Stitches website, I feel like I’m window shopping, rather than actually wandering in their store.
Their shopping cart software is mysteriously not working. Not sure why, but it was probably in my best interest. It could have been a very expensive night and my credit card would’ve been feeling the weight. (PayPal option would be great folks! Not sure what payment methods you offer, or if you have a secure checkout because, well, it doesn’t say and I can’t get to the checkout page.)
Their URL structure and titles are also quite unfriendly. When I want to bookmark certain products…say I’m watching to see when they go on sale…The titles tell me nothing about which product I bookmarked, there are no unique descriptions, and the URLs tell me nothing. So please, use referral strings, but for the love of pete, please do something with your titles! Even when they’re shared on social networks, there is nothing decent describing what I’m sharing and no way to manually change it myself.
Next point: When I want to buy a product, let me see the entire product…back, sides, top, bottom, whatever. Stitches does an excellent job giving me a close up, but I don’t want something dorky on the back of the shirt. The way it’s set up now, I can’t tell.
Social Media Marketing Strategy
This part was quite fascinating to me:
Remember that email I got? Well, if you click the Social Media icons at the top, it will take you to each one of its social profiles. On their website? NONE of them are clickable! I was quite disappointed when I had to fish the email out of the trash to find their social profiles. (The bottom of the page had a Facebook like button…so I guess my initial statement was a little inaccurate, but c’mon! If you’re going to have buttons above the fold, make them usable!)
Stitches On Twitter
Stitches does have a branded Twitter profile and its user ID matches the site URL. Two points for them! This is important because it makes them relatively easy to find and you know you’ve got the right one when you get there.
They’re interacting a little with other Twitter users, but they’re using the account mainly with Twitterfeed to tweet out links to teen fashion trends. I admit this made my heart break a little. For a store that’s so friendly and good at connecting with girls and guys 16-30, they’re not showing it here.
Most of their links are to Teen Vogue articles. Why are they not creating this stuff and hosting it on their own website? Where are the links to their great sales? Their fashion advice? Regardless, they’re generating a lot of ad revenue for someone else’s site. (This could be because their site isn’t working, but personally, they’d be better off to get the site fixed and tweet more of their own links than sending everyone elsewhere.) In short, their account needs balance and a human touch.
Stitches On Flickr
The Stitches Flickr stream is quite small, but considering the fact that it’s only been in use since April, I expected it. Unfortunately, like their emails and photo shoots, they don’t tell me what clothing the models are wearing, where to find it on their site, or even where I can find these photos online so I can see them in use. All it says is “BTS 2010″, which again, tells me nothing.
There are tons of opportunities here, and Stitches have missed many of them. I would love to see them embrace the power of this medium! What about customer photo shoots? Creative contests? Ten pairs of jeans you can put with a particular shirt that’s on sale that month? This last one could be great because they could put together ‘fashion packages’, so that when someone clicked on it, it would add all the clothing items from a picture or set of pictures to the shopping cart.
The Stitches YouTube Channel
I was quite happy to see Stitches is on YouTube! My first thought was that there were going to be great interviews with their fashion experts with tons of tips on stretching your wardrobe, the latest trends, makeup tips, or even just videos on *gulp* teen issues.
Well, they don’t have any of that, but they did upload two ad kind of things. Again, I’d love to see information in the description about the clothes shown off in the ad, links to the items, what their ‘Back To School’ collection was based on, what the trends are this season…something! I’d like to think that people would subscribe just to see their ads, but unless they take lessons from Old Spice, I just can’t see that happening…at least not people who will buy their clothing.
Stiches Facebook Fan Page
With almost 20K likes on the Stitches fan page, there is tons of marketing power here! They’re doing a pretty good job of using it too. Some people are uploading pics of themselves in the hottest Stiches fashions. Their video and notes sections have groups of ads (more than their YouTube channel) and they let you win tickets for a local event. They put up images of the sales ads, but again, nothing is clickable and there aren’t any links to where you can find these items.
Sadly, while fans are speaking up and sharing their love of Stitches, the company is doing very little interacting with its loyal customers. Even a quick note back to some of their customers would be a great investment. Also, why is their fan page opening to their wall when the hook for their visitors is on the free tickets page? Why not create a mini-ad page for people to land on?
Stitches did happen to reveal some information about their website on their Facebook page: Their site is down (duh! Lol) and the online store is being rebuilt. This is great news! I’m a little confused as to why they’d disable the online store before the new one is ready, but I’m hoping there’s a good explanation because they have to be losing a fair chunk of change. I’m also quite confused as to why they’d continue with their online marketing campaign. I thought the idea might be to convince people to go to their brick and mortar stores, but I can never find the fashions they advertise online in their stores!
Closing Thoughts On the Stitches Online Store and Marketing Campaign
If I could give any suggestions to Stitches at all, I’d strongly suggest that they study their competitors. What do they do well? What’s working for them? What isn’t working? What aren’t they covering?
They need to figure out exactly who their target audience is and find out what’s most important to them. Generate content they’ll find interesting and valuable, even if it’s just a collection of funny cartoons or jokes about the issues they face.
I’m going out on a limb here, but I think teenagers really want to see themselves in fashionable clothing. They want to feel welcome and accepted and they want to feel popular. This is where Stitches marketing power will come from. This is where Stitches will really be able to break their industry open and begin to claim a fair chunk of the market share. In fact, I’d love to see them come up with an online app that people can upload pictures of themselves and virtually ‘mix and match’ outfits. They could even use the images of schools, malls, or other popular hangout locations in the background.
They need to hunt out complementary businesses and figure out ways to team up and offer deals and opportunities their competition hasn’t. Music, beauty, magazines, electronics…there are an unending number of ideas and possibilities here.
Stitches needs to shake their corporate image and start to stand out.
Their site is also impossible to find in the search engines. They are in dire need of some SEO and some ad campaigns if they hope to revitalize their stores and making some serious profit.
Again, I wish Stitches well and hope they make use of their online marketing, whether they find and use the information in this post or not. (Which reminds me: If Stitches hasn’t got any sort of buzz monitoring or Google Alerts set up, they need to. They need to figure out what’s being said about them and use the information to their advantage.)
I also hope you were able to follow me through this audit/case study and pick up some ideas you can use in your own ecommerce stores.
Why I’m Not Cheap and Why That’s a Good Thing
I’ve about had my fill of the cheap copy debate. In truth, there isn’t one. If you’ve got a complaint about copywriters charging too much, you’ve got other issues besides the cost. With copywriters, you get what you pay for, just like a doctor, lawyer, or even a school.
So, if you aren’t trying to screw writers over by trying to get everything for nothing, which most people aren’t, there’s something else behind it.
I’m not cheap, and after a series of recent events, I’ve re-evaluated my pricing structure yet again. My time and my copy are an investment, and it’s not something that should be taken lightly.
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Cheap Copy Makes You Look Cheap
Enough is enough, and I’m not the only one who’s had it with this type of thinking either. A number of writers have already had their say:
Web Content — You Get What You Pay For! (Oh, and that video on the end? Watch it.)
Why I Charge $1,200+ Per Page For Copywriting
My Thoughts On ‘Sausage-Factory’ Content: Let’s Set Something Straight
Google Says Quality Is Dirt Cheap, Don’t Hire Copywriters
Is Quality Copywriting Worth the Expense?
Here’s from the client’s perspective:
Debating the Value (and Meaning) of “Great Content” for SEO (Comments are great)
When To Pay Top Dollar For Copy
How Much To Pay a Copywriter from the Warrior Forum
Search Engine Optimization and the Importance of Copy
There are literally thousands and thousands of pages on the topic.
Copywriting is an investment equal in importance to the design, development, usability, and marketing strategy. Throwing a hastily written piece of web copy on a design you’ve spent thousands on is like shoving a $10K stereo in a 1983 Tercel. And in a business where your only interaction with most customers is your website, the existance of this plague is truly a mystery.
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I’m More Than Just a Durn Good Spellur
So, how do you define a ‘good writer’ anyway? Is this someone who can spell and knows the rules of grammar? Someone who can fit enough drivel between your keywords to satisfy your keyword requirements? Well, if that’s the case, then you’re right. Any idiot can do that…hmm, well no, that’s not true. I guess for some, the ability to speak and read English is enough.
Did you know that when you hire a copywriter, a good copywriter, you get more than just someone who can bang a bunch of crap onto a page. Yes, a good copywriter has to understand the rules before he or she can break them, but great copywriting, and indeed, great websites don’t become great by breaking the rules. They become great by breaking them the right way, and there’s much more to it than just that.
My Copywriting Is Creative
Tell me, how do you define your brand when it comes to creating your website? If you say simply your logo and tagline, you deserve a good swift smack. Your brand is the image you present to visitors.
Knowing that, what kind of an image do you project when your site looks great, but no one can understand a damn word you’re saying? Exactly. You may say you have high quality with an attention to detail, but do you really? Or are you more interested in making a quick buck? If it’s the latter, I can guarantee you that people can sniff that out a mile away. It reeks like a skunk and spreads about as far.
What sort of image do you project if someone arrives on your site and they can’t figure out what it is you do or what you have to offer them? Either it looks like you aren’t too interested in sharing that information, or you’re trying to hide something. People aren’t going to fight to give you money or attention.
What if your site just feels bland and uninspiring? How do you think people see companies like that?
When I write a piece of copy, I think about it long before I ever start writing. The imagery, feel, and tone for the copy absolutely perfect, meaning it needs to match you, your brand, and your target audience. If it doesn’t, you may as well be speaking alien because it’s going to be about as effective. In fact, my best ideas come to me at night when I’m supposed to be sleeping, in the truck, or while I’m in the shower.
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I Don’t Bully Your Buyers. With Me, They WANT To Buy
Some segments of your audience need pushes at different times and to varying degrees. Do you address that adequately? Or do you just toss the standard format onto a page and hope for the best?
While most copywriters follow a standard formula, I know that nothing is ever standard. Your business, your market, your website, and even how you plan to communicate different ideas enter into this equation. I charge more because I take time to figure out to get familiar with your target audience and learn how to push the right buttons at just the right time.
I Focus On What Really Matters — Those Who Buy From You
I don’t know how many times I hear people complain that they’ve got too many time wasters. Or, they complain that they’ve got a low conversion rate. Did you ever stop to think that maybe your copy is attracting the wrong segment of people? Many times, site owners are building a site and they can’t even define who their most profitable market is. I don’t just mean stay at home mom’s over 40 either. I mean putting names to that market.
When I work on a project, however, I do my best to work with that company to define that audience, or I attempt to narrow it down as much as possible before I can even start. Why? Because that’s what makes my writing better and different than almost all other copywriters in the industry.
It’s not just identifying this market. It’s using various methods to become familiar with the people who will be giving you their money, enough that you can use the same language, have the same problems, desires and fears. Why? So you know how to offer them the solution.
This doesn’t just come from analyzing the data either. You need to understand exactly what it is you’re looking at. Is it guaranteed? Of course not, but it’s sure a lot more accurate than the wild stab in the dark a lot of other copywriters make, if they account for this at all.
I Get the Right Message Out There
A large majority of website owners want to talk about how wonderful their product is, how wonderful they are, and then ask consumers for money. This is so common, this is all a large number of copywriters produce. Sorry, but this just isn’t very effective. It’s been proven over and over and over again. In fact, the best copywriters in the business have been preaching this for decades.
When I craft copy, I get the attention of your target audience, I create an internal need, and convince them that buying whatever it is from you is the best they could do for themselves. To do this, I make a direct connection between you and them. Think of me like a translator. It has nothing to do with features and telling them how wonderful you are. This desire is far stronger than just bragging yourself up and asking someone to buy from you.
Well, I lied. This does work if you’re a girl guide, and sorry, but you’re far from a girl guide. Unless you’re a girl guide. Then, you have my apologies.
I Know How To Incorporate Social Media
Want to know what your target market is really talking about? Want to know what they really need or enjoy? Trying to hit a particular social media site? If your copywriter doesn’t know what he or she is doing, or doesn’t know what to look for (or how to look for it), you’re likely not going to get there, especially if you haven’t had time to do your homework. Things like this are easily skewed.
I charge more because I do know where to look and know how to interpret what I’m looking at. I charge more because I generate ideas that help you get the attention of your target market. Is it guaranteed? Nope. Sorry. Stuff like that is never a guarantee, but I guarantee you’ll get a heck of a lot closer with a copywriter that knows what she’s doing compared to one who doesn’t.
And Let’s Not Forget Search Engine Optimization
I’d like to think I have a pretty darn good understanding of SEO and how content fits into that equation. This gives me a distinct advantage over most copywriter, not only because I know how to create your content, but I also know how to structure it to satisfy the search engines and create sales funnels that are customized to match each of the different visitors who land on your site. In fact, I know how to create entire content strategies that will help you build links and all that kind of stuff.
A large number of other writers don’t even know where to begin. Oh, they can plug keywords into a bunch of text all right, but that’s pretty much the extent of it. What about working in difficult keywords or instances where the keywords chosen aren’t exactly a good match for the topic? I guarantee that if you’re only paying them a couple bucks an article, they aren’t going to care.
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I’m Good To You Too
What happens when you forgot about a project or you’ve discovered you’re falling in the SERPs? Maybe you’ve got a product that’s not going to meet the month’s goals? While most other copywriters only work business hours Monday to Friday and no holidays, I’m usually willing to make myself available and do everything humanly possible to get it done.
I don’t limit the number of revisions you’re allowed. I don’t give you obscene turnover times, and you know it’ll be done when you give it to me. There’s always a friendly voice on the phone and friendly hellos in your email. You can’t say the same about a lot of the writers out there, and anyone who has fought with crap writers before knows how important this is.
You see? If I was just writing, I could warrant working for a couple of dollars an hour, but there’s much more to it.
I Have Expenses Too
Would you pay someone to work for them? Good. Me either. If it’s going to cost me to do your work, I’m not too interested in doing it, and I think that’s only fair. So what else is included in my costs? The same things that are included in every other service or product you buy:
- Marketing
- Administrative costs
- Advertising/donations
- Emails, phone calls and chats (I don’t charge when we spend an hour on the phone!)
- Education, resources and learning
In the end, a single piece of web copy can take me days, not an hour or two. Besides, if you think it’s important enough to seek out the best copywriter to do it, don’t you think I should put as much time, care, consideration, and thought into it as you would?
You’ll notice I didn’t mention all the free SEO, site structure, usability, social media and marketing questions I often get asked while working on these projects. These questions sometimes eat up hours of my time…hours I could be getting paid for or spending with my kid.
Does this mean everyone should buy expensive copy? Of course not. Does this mean I’m the right copywriter in every situation? Of course not, but the rest of this discussion will have to wait for the next post!
Promotional VS Informative Marketing Content: Which Is Better?
Many of my clients ask about what they should and shouldn’t publish when marketing their websites. If they want to sell, they should write content that directly promotes the company or a specific product, right? Or maybe they should they offer readers information that’s more… well… informative.
Companies want to advertise their products and services while creating a buzz around their business. Unfortunately, some get so caught up in the idea of getting conversions, they forget readers have to have a desire to read the piece in the first place or they’re just going to ignore it. (Think banner blindness!) It’s sort of like failing to see the forest for the trees.
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Now, while I’m a firm believer in the idea that there’s a time and place for everything, and am aware of the huge advantages promotional content can have, I strongly believe in using informative content in a blog, article marketing strategy, or to otherwise market a website, product, or service.
Why Promotional Content Is Often Ineffective For Marketing
On the Web, people are constantly bombarded with advertising. So it’s only natural that the last thing they want to spend time reading is
more advertising when dealing with an overflowing newsreader or inbox. When this happens, I find readers ignore this type of content and see it as having no value to them.
It’s important to introduce a new product, but promoting products too often can cause you to lose readership. They don’t want to read about you all the time. They want to find out how to solve problems, and the way I see it, if you have a properly crafted website, you don’t need to highlight something different every day.
Your readers should already know what you offer. This doesn’t mean promotional content is useless, but you need to be cautious about how you incorporate it into social spaces. (Mention sales, news and publish the odd post, but don’t consistently use entire blog posts to talk about you and your offerings.)
If you really want to sell the products or services you have on offer, you need to forget about advertising them. Instead, demonstrate to your audience how the items or services you have for sale can make their lives better, easier, or more enjoyable.
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Readers Want To Learn From You, So Give ‘em What They Want
By the time a reader gets to you, they have one of two goals:
1. They want to know how to solve a problem or issue by themselves. They want to leave your site and come away with something they can use, even if it’s hot news topics or industry changes.
2. They are too busy, or too inexperienced to handle an issue themselves, and want to hire you to look after it. In this instance, they don’t want to be educated. They expect you to know everything and use this knowledge to help them achieve a goal.
Your job as a website and business owner is to decide what goal your readers have and how you’ll address them. Depending on your niche, you may even need to address the needs of both types of readers.
From here, you can create topics that address these needs while still getting your message across in a subtle way. The idea is to make your audience go ‘Oh hey! I bet their product/service can help me do that.’ Or, ‘if I bought the product or service, I could do all this too…’
How Each Reader Type Converts:
You’ll find those who want to solve an issue themselves still may need some of the complimentary services you offer. Or, they’ll discover how much work or experience is required to do the job they have in mind and change their minds about doing it themselves. In this instance, who better to do the work than the expert they chose to learn from initially? Others may simply respect you for helping them and improve your authority. No matter which way it goes, you essentially lose nothing.
The group of readers who know they don’t have the time, experience, or expertise to do something are the ones who directly convert. They are already looking for the things you offer, so you just need to show them why you are better than your competition.
Lastly, if you’re guest posting or working on a content placement program, you’ll find the site owners are a lot less reserved when it comes to informational content. Promotional content, on the other hand, could cost you to get up there.
So, the next time you create a piece of content to publish on a blog, for example, which type will you use? Why? Do you feel promotional advertising can take a leading role in blogs, for example?
