The Small Business Guide to Online Marketing. Lola Bailey
a number of alternative routes to your nearest retail outlets to them? Could you give your customer an alternative means of viewing a key event which they are unable to attend, such as a link to a blog or a video of the event?
Easily shared: How can you ensure your content is shared? Could you have an inviting competition on your website that encourages those entering the competition to seek votes from their friends, thereby drawing others to your content?
Effective: What can you offer to your customer that will be effective in bringing them back to your site? For example, if you are a retailer of outdoor sports clothing, could you also offer regional/local forecasts? Skiers are very likely to purchase outdoor sportswear; giving them access to local or regional weather conditions will be an effective pull strategy.
Time-enhancing: What can you offer that will save time for your customers? For instance, could you offer a range of delivery options?
Throughout it all, you must be subtly promoting your brand. For example, if you are targeting the weight loss market, you could post lots of low-fat recipes or create a computer application that helps dieters analyse their current eating habits and then offer practical ways to reduce their fat intake or offer easy ways to increase fruit/vegetable intake. (This has probably already been created!)
Write content that will be memorable
Memorable content has lasting value and will gain you more fans. There are several ways to do this:
Make the content entertaining, through being fun and easier to read.
Appeal to the emotional aspect of a need with a strong call to action – emotional hooks are extremely powerful – try to invoke a similar, strong reaction with your content.
Include metaphors and analogies, which are great for bridging the gap between heart and head. Analogies are the best recipe for creating a great blog post; by being sure all of your ingredients are present in the correct amounts and added at the right time. (Hopefully you have seen what I just did there!)
Shine a spotlight on your achievements – e.g. awards you have won, testimonials, ‘big names’ that have used your brand – most of us have an ego and want to be associated with the best.
Demonstrate how your product or service can help improve the lives of your customers, for example, through testimonials, an “Is this you?” quiz, etc.
How to generate content for any business
It’s one thing to know you need to create content for your blog or website, but where do you start? Take your pick!
If you haven’t already, have a look at Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts). Set an alert with a few industry keywords, and ask it to deliver at least twenty stories a day. Read the headlines and copy interesting links into a file for future use. When you get several related stories, you’ve got an instant roundup piece.
Skim national and local newspapers and magazine stories. How does the news impact on your readers? Write about national trends, and you will soon be thought of as an authority. You could also visit Yahoo! Buzz and Google Trends to learn what people are looking for – you might just get an idea for an article that could drive some search traffic your way.
Read small publications and trade publications. If your business is in a niche area, check the experts’ columns in local papers or business weeklies. Few people outside your community will have read these, and their topics are often easily recycled.
Think “a problem equals an opportunity”. What are the biggest problems faced by your customers? Focus on topics that would provide balm to their wounds.
Tackle a controversy. Weigh in on your industry’s hot topic. This can be especially effective if you have a different viewpoint to offer.
Ask a question. Is there an industry issue that you’re undecided about? Discuss your mixed feelings.
Scan social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious. These are always great places to find buzz-worthy news to write about.
Review the developments in your niche. How has your industry changed in the past five years? Ten years? Look for milestones for reflection.
Create a regular feature. For instance, you could do a “Friday news roundup” every week or a “Tuesday tips”.
Write a book review. Tell readers if the hot new book in your niche is insightful or inane.
Do a product review. As with the book review: good, bad or ugly?
Review websites related to your niche. The best and the ones which don’t hit the mark, perhaps?
Visit question and answer sites. Listen for what is being asked about that you haven’t answered yet. Try Yahoo! Answers or LinkedIn for starters.
Attend a local community event. Then write about it.
Set yourself a topics challenge. Tell yourself you need to come up with 50 topic ideas today. Jot down anything and everything.
Take the one-hour challenge. Similar to the idea above, challenge yourself to find a story idea within the next hour.
Run a poll. Register for an account with a site like PollDaddy.com, then publish a poll related to a topic you have written about.
If you have express written permission, you could transcribe, or record an interview with a guest that will be of interest to your readers. Do you have a favourite thinker in your space? Get in touch. You’ll be surprised how many ‘gurus’ are up for a quick Q&A.
Using Google Keywords to generate content
The free Google Keywords tool can be very useful when it comes to generating new online content. Let’s take a look at this marvellous tool in a little more detail. Google’s keyword tool is a comprehensive online application that will give you ideas for your content by generating a list of words (called ‘keywords’) that are used by your potential customers when looking for particular information. By finding out what consumers are searching for, you find out what information holds value to them. To use the tool you will need to create a free account at adwords.google.com.
Then do the following:
In AdWords, click on ‘Tools and Analysis’ to get a drop down menu and select ‘Keyword Tool’.
Imagine, for example, that you are a business wanting to write a blog post on chocolates.
Type two to four related keywords into the ‘Find keywords’ section that you believe your customers might use to find information relevant to your subject. For now, let’s use chocolates. You might choose to enter:
gourmet chocolates
organic chocolates
diabetic chocolates
chocolate making materials.
Search results are divided into two primary sections; 1. Search terms (the terms you have entered) and 2. Keyword ideas (Google’s own suggestions based on your search – click on the ‘More like these’