It’s impossible to consider any kind of SEO strategy nowadays without including content marketing as part of it. The major search engines love to see quality content on a website, which is why 76% of SEO’s are more than willing to invest in quality content creation. The vast majority are of the belief that great content is a crucial part of any SEO strategy, but that number drops off rather severely when you ask about the effectiveness of white papers, with only 40% viewing them as being an essential part of content marketing.
When you think of content marketing, you automatically tend to think of articles. While article marketing is considered to be the most effective, it is not the only strategy that is popular. Running a close second is content for social media, most likely because of the ability to reach an incredibly large and receptive audience in a relatively short period of time. Blogging is also very high on the list, and is actually the perfect outlet for well-crafted articles, basically joining the two methods at the hip.
The great thing about content marketing is that all the different elements can be tied together into a neat little package. For example, you can write a great article for you blog, which can then be shared via social media or an e-mail newsletter. The same rules apply if you prefer video content over the written word. The ability to influence so many people with one single piece makes it very appealing to the major search and engines, which in turn will then make your site an authority on your chosen niche. The end result is that you will very likely rank very highly when relevant search terms are used.
There can be no denying that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have helped the popularity of content marketing. You need only look at the figures to see that, with one in five posts on those sites containing a clickable link. Being aware that good content is more likely to be shared drives people to create and deliver quality work. It stands to reason that if more people see your work, the more chance there is of converting those views to sales.
The feedback from customers has shown that their decision to buy is very often influenced by a video, an article on a blog, or some other piece of well-conceived content that swayed their decision. You can expect those numbers to rise as more and more online marketers begin to understand how quality content can drive their business. The ability to now have that content created quickly and cheaply through microgig sites means that site owners can outsource the work they need done so that they can concentrate on taking their conversion rates to all new levels.
Mark Ford is the Owner of Red Website Design – One of the UK’s leading Cheap Website Design companies.
