Introduction by Barbara Gabogrecan
I often hear businesses say that they do not have time to write articles and comments on the web and they do not have enough to say to write a meaningful article. Well, there is nothing we can do about time – there is only a finite amount of it. But if you do not plan your time to include writing on the web, then you will be losing business opportunities. Just allocate a specific amount of time each day or week or month when you do some online marketing.
The information below provided by Tracey Jarvis of Xpand Online gives you some great tips and suggestions on just how to access relevant and valuable information and just why you should be involved regularly with Online Marketing. You can read more expert advice from Tracey and gain tons of knoledge to use in your own business skills.
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By Tracey Jarvis of Xpandonline
Why Produce Online Content?
Producing content for your online platforms has a number of benefits:
- it helps your site/blog/platform rank higher with Google
- it helps draw traffic to your website
- it also helps the visitor gain trust around your brand or service, by seeing that you know your industry and your customer
- It helps you connect with your visitors (potential customers), people want to get to know who they are buying from, if they connect they will be more likely to buy
People want to get to know you via your online platforms, if they don’t connect with what you are saying, they will move onto the next business.
Types of content:
1. Customer generated content
You could…
* Ask for feedback in your emails, encourage your subscribers to contact you with questions, comments, or reviews
• Start conversations on social networks, engaging with fans and followers on Facebook, Twitter and other social sites and draw content from their comments
• Use readers’ comments on your posts and further the discussion in a newsletter article
• Go offline, chat with customers/clients. Call your most loyal clients for interviews. Send out comment cards to gather feedback & reviews
2. Re-use your existing content
You could…
• Deconstruct a blog post. Just because information lived on your blog first, doesn’t mean it can’t be restructured and presented elsewhere.
• Take content from your print materials, especially ones that target prospects. Which ideas will translate well online?
• Use content from your website. Expand points from your “About” page into a comprehensive company history or your vision for the future.
* Revisit your FAQ’s and pull out some questions to highlight with in-depth answers.
* Have you written articles for other sites? Rework them to use in your own blog or newsletter
Other ideas for re-using content:
• Take a popular blog post and turn it into a podcast
• Address your FAQ in a video series on YouTube
• Host a Q & A session over Facebook chat
• Feature customer tweets (and your responses) in your next email newsletter
• Create a whitepaper with points from a recent webinar
• Compile your best blog posts into a helpful eBook
• Feature reviews on your Facebook Page
Using Search Tools to create content
* Reading blogs and conversations started by your competitors gives you a clear picture of topics that matter to your customers.
* Search tools like Google Alerts, Google AdWords and Social Bookmarking sites are excellent places to look for topics that will hook your customers.
1. Google Alerts
* Google Alerts sends regular email updates of the most recent news and blog articles published on your topic.
* Search for keywords related to your business and create alerts for each one.
http://www.google.com/alerts
2. Google Adwords
* Google AdWords has a keyword tool that shows what people are searching for related to your topic. You can rank search terms by popularity to see what information might be important to your customers and prospects.
https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/ … earch.none
3. Social Bookmarking
* Sites like Digg, Delicious, Reddit and StumbleUpon let users save their favourite sites and vote for their favourite content bookmarked by others. Bookmarks are categorised by searchable tags. * Search for your industry keywords on social bookmarking sites and order results based on popularity. Articles with the most buzz are excellent content sources to re-use/re-write for your own marketing channels.
To cover off always use your keywords that are related to your industry and niche, in all content that you produce. At the end of the day you are trying to get found on Google and other search engines by your potential customers, so remember, they find you by searching on keywords, keywords, keywords.
I never thought about doing some of these tips… thank you so much.
A Truly thoughtful article on now content can be used to drive your home based business!
”Content is king” rightly said. The info in the article would help me in developing my home business.
Those are some interesting methods of creating content, I don’t ask for customer feedback but it’s a very feasible option to get tailored feedback.
Having the right content is extremely important. It should always be compelling and updated on a regular basis. It is a good idea to ask for feedback as it is more engaging for users.
This article is very informative, well done and easy to follow even for the beginner.
There are several points in this article I didnt even think about for my own home based business.
Content certainly is paramount when considering keyword activity too
Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Content is what matters to for your business to step up to the plate.
Very helpful and interesting article for all.
Good content is very important. I learned more details from reading this article. Just awesome.
i believe people should learn to plan ahead more often. It is just a smart thinb to do; great article
Great article and I am impressed with your work. Your comments, hints and tips are essential for home based business
I am really happy to find this great article that can help most Home Based Business.
Very helpful imformation bout creating content.
I believe Google stuff really helps when re-using existing contents. Thanks a lot!
Very helpful and interesting article
It is just a smart thing to do; great article
I like the idea of marketing a partner’s product and sharing contacts in return. Interesting tips.This was great to read as well as being very helpful to me personally…
Its essential for home business to provide valuable and relevant information on their business websites.
I never knew that creating content is so important to my home base business until i read about it here today. Those tips really come in handy for me to follow through. Thanks!
Excellent advice and great techniques.
Tracy, would you ever suggest outsourcing your content or do you feel like that isn’t necessarily ethical?
Very rich content. Was looking for something like this.
I am not sure what Tracey thinks Dillian, but I have no problems with outsourcing content. As long as it fits your philosophy – even authors use ghost writers.
Barbara Gabogrecan
Customer generated content eventually becomes the best way to produce content if you do it right. How can you beat other people working and submitting content for you? However, if done terribly, it will kill a site.
Michael, I would love to know more about the ‘best and worst’ ways customers can supply content. If you would like to supply me with a n article, I would be happy to print it with a link to your website. I would also like a photo of you to include in the publication. Please email me at barbarea@hbba.biz
Very helpful article as we all need to realise content is key in any business
very helpful especially ‘ why produce online content’ it teaches the purpose
I was skeptical on how I was going to promote my business but these tips sure are helpful. Thanks for taking the time to post these up.
i think content is the most cruicial aspect of a home business website
This is a great idea I like it!
Will make sure to remember this.
Very helpful hints. Thanks a lot – very insightful.
Great ways to develope content and thrust your business forward, thanks.