One of our primary jobs as a Content Marketing Agency in Houston is to get your website to come up high in search engines. There are several ways that we do this, but a key factor is identifying, producing, enhancing and marketing quality content for your site.
Content comes in several forms, including:
- Website pages
- Articles
- Press releases
- Blogs
Each type of content has a slightly different format and way to market it. It’s a complex and ever-changing process — fueled by Google’s complex and ever-changing algorithm for ranking pages — but let’s look at some of the basic ideas.
Website pages
When our SEO work starts driving traffic to your website, you need quality content there to keep consumers enthralled so that they stay on your site and — even better — turn into loyal customers. If your pages are well-designed but poorly written, then that won’t happen.
Articles
Think of newspapers. An antique notion, perhaps, but the front page is full of articles: well-researched stories providing a public service by informing readers on a particular topic. Online articles should be similar.
You can post articles to your website, but article marketing can be an effective way to drive traffic to your site. Article submitters such as EzineArticles.com allow your article to reach a massive audience. They accept informative articles that are then published on their website. Email newsletter publishers use these forums to find content, which can translate into more people viewing your articles.
Articles are allowed two self-serving links (links back to YOUR site) at the end in a resource box.
If you put your article somewhere on the web be sure NOT to publish it on your site so that you do not have any duplicate content issues with the search engines.
Press Releases
When you think press releases, think BREAKING NEWS. If you’re going to write a press release and send it out there into the web, this should be reserved for sharing something big and new — a new location, new employee, new product. It should be a facts-only article (no opinions!) answering when, where, what, who, why and how, and no more than three links within the body of the copy and contact info at the bottom.
There are many free directories you can submit a press release to and just as many paid directories that submit to newswires, RSS feeds and search engines — all with different pros and cons. But wherever you submit, the above guidelines of writing and linking should be observed.
Blogs
Blogs can be a lot like articles or press releases; they can also be a lot more. Your business blog can give your consumers info in a more informal way and consistently add fresh content to your website, and Google LOVES fresh content. Blogs can be submitted to blog directories to gain readership and drive more traffic to your website.
You can also guest blog on other websites. Maybe you have business associates in related fields; having a business contact guest blog on your website while you guest blog on theirs can be mutually beneficial in building links to your site and to other reputable sites.
Content Creation
Marketing your content is important, but creating quality, keyword rich copy is a delicate balancing act. You want to catch the attention of search engines so your site moves up in the rankings, but your content should first and foremost appeal to real people.
That’s where we come in. Contact Thunderhead Marketing now to start improving your content and getting the traffic your business needs to thrive online.