Creating content is THE most efficient way to boost your SEO and generate leads. But that’s easier said than done…until now of course.
The first thing people usually ask is: “Why does creating content boost your SEO?”
Here’s the answer. The more content you create, the more active you are. Search engines like activity, because it suggests that you’re an expert in your area if you’re continually updating your website with new information. That means you’ll be more likely to be able to help someone looking for information in your area of expertise, so you get moved closer to the top of the list in organic searches.
The real key is in creating VALUABLE CONTENT for your customers, because it might be great to be seen, but if you don’t have any substance to your content, or make people want to learn more about your business, you won’t generate any leads. So here’s what you have to do.
First and foremost, you need to make sure the content you create actually moves forward your overall business objectives. Otherwise what’s the point in publishing it? It might be fun to share what you’re eating for lunch, but unless it’s from the restaurant that you own, it probably isn’t doing a lot to generate more business for you.
So before you write a single word, you want to make sure you answer the following questions:
- What are my specific business objectives for the year? (Think revenue goals, leads, conversion rates, etc.)
- How does this content support those objectives?
- Is it setting me up as an expert in my industry?
- Is it selling a product or service directly or indirectly?
- Is it creating awareness or branding for my business?
- How will this eventually lead to a sale if it doesn’t directly in the content itself?
Next, make sure you choose keywords that aren’t too competitive. If your keywords are highly competitive on a national level, you’re going to have a lot of other businesses also using the same keywords, so it will be more difficult to be found in the masses. Instead, you want to choose Keywords that have a large number of organic searches, but aren’t overly used. For example, the keyword “garage” or “garages” has millions of searches, but “man cave” still comes up with a large audience, and offers more opportunity for you to be found. This is why using Google Keyword Planner can really help you to find a more targeted search term with less competition.
Ensure the keywords you’ve chosen are included in all your content, and most especially in the first paragraph of your writing. The first paragraph is usually what people use to decide whether or not they are going to read further, which is exactly why search engines give it more weight when “crawling” your content.
The third step to ensure that your content is valuable to your prospective client. All too often business focus on what they think is great about their business, rather than focusing on what the client really wants to know. So from a client’s perspective, you have to use the WIIFM angle – What’s In It For Me?
For example: you might think that the fact the vacuum you sell has a hepa filter is the greatest thing on earth, but that might not mean anything at all to your client until you tell them that the hepa filter cuts down on the allergens that make their child sick. In other words, the hepa filter = less sick kids. Now you have their attention.
Once you’ve the value nailed down, you have to choose the best delivery style for the information. The style of content you use can make a big difference to the amount of attraction you get. Some of the most popular types of content are:
- Infographics
- Videos
- How To’s
- Lists
- Case Studies
- Educational/Expert Articles
Step 5 is creating a clear call to action (CTA). You need to tell people what you want them to do, otherwise they probably won’t do it. Your CTA could be as simple as “Call today!” or “Click now!” or something more tailored to your business and more interesting like “Solve the mystery” or “Start your project now.” With your CTA, you simply want to make sure it’s clear, actionable, and it logically takes your client to the next step in learning about you and working with you.
Finally, you can improve your SEO by sharing content on social media. Search engines count shares with links to the content on your website, as a backlink to your website. The more legitimate backlinks you have the better your SEO will be, and that makes easier for your business be found through organic searches on the various search engines.
Straight up, social media can become overwhelming pretty quickly if you try too many avenues. It’s best practice to post daily on your social media platforms, and that can make for a lot of posting if you’re trying to share on numerous platforms. That’s why we suggest you pick just one or platforms that you like to use, and know that your target audience uses as well, and focus your efforts there. Once you get a system going, then add more platforms. Just make sure that your target audience actually uses the platforms you add.
To be more efficient with your time, repurpose your content wherever you can. For example, pick a few sentences from your blog posts that can be used a quotes for Facebook or Twitter; or revise a blog and turn it into an article to share on LinkedIn, then create a link to your website to find out more.
Once you use this system to create content on a regular basis, you will see a boost in your SEO, and you’ll generate more leads for your business.
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