Win more search engine love and connect with customers
Congratulations. After months of laboring over your new website, it’s finally launched. Now you can go about your business and let customers find you. Right? Well…not quite.
Once the search engines have found your new site and indexed your pages, it’s time to add content. To rank high in search results…and give visitors a reason to visit your site often with the goal of turning them into buyers.
Oh, your site isn’t new? It’s been sitting there collecting dust? All the more reason to revive it by adding fresh content.
What should that content be? Here are three good ways to go that will put you in good standing with search engines and customers alike.
BLOG POSTS
This is the perfect format for adding fresh content to your site. Do I hear you saying: but I don’t have time to blog? Well, here’s the thing. You don’t have to write a post every day, or every week for that matter. A good way to approach it is to set aside a block of time when you can write 2 or 3 posts and schedule them for once a week. If that’s too much to manage, start with one or two a month.
Wondering what to write about? Content ideas are all around you. Write about new products or services, industry trends, profile an employee or a client, repurpose a previous post giving it a fresh spin. For more ideas, check out feedly.com. Or let’s brainstorm!
VIDEO
People would rather watch a video than read a lot of text. Unlike static content, a video stirs emotion with sight, prospects sound and motion. It’s one of the most effective tools for connecting with customers. In a short video (1-3 minutes), you can explain your services, demonstrate a product, answer customers’ questions, feature customer testimonials, the possibilities are endless.
Video helps with SEO on your website or blog, it’s great for social media and email marketing.
With today’s smart phones, you can shoot a good quality video for a low cost. Do consider production values, however. Good lighting, proper wardrobe (no busy patterns or super bright colors), and simple backgrounds will give your video a more professional look. That said, I recommend working with a professional videographer for best results. Especially if you are not at ease in front of the camera.
Here are some YouTube tidbits*:
- Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day.
- 9% of U.S small businesses use YouTube
- Approximately 20% of the people who start your video will leave after the first 10 seconds. So be sure to create a compelling intro!
*merchdope.com
CASE STUDIES
Everybody loves stories. Especially those with a happy ending. So tell the story of a recent success. Talk about the challenge, and how you solved the customer’s problem. But don’t make it all about you. Engage your client in the process and ask them to talk about the experience from their point of view. Include the results…Did you save them money? Make their business run more efficiently? Or improve their life? Show prospects what you can do for them. Case studies (or success stories as I like to call them) have a long shelf life. In addition to posting them on your website you can use them in a new business pitch, a press kit, in social media or newsletter.
For more on case studies, contact me for my free report, “Case Studies – How to Turn Your Customer Success Stories into Marketing Gold.”
Need help with any of these tactics? Let’s talk!