The most effective tool for driving traffic to my clients websites is a blog
Social media does it’s part but mostly only with really good content & big announcements. Most social media fluff doesn’t do too much for your website traffic, especially the steady, dependable kind. The internet rewards a website with a pulse and the way to achieve this is with blogging.
Content marketing
-
a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.“social media is an integral part of content marketing”
“While content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing, it generates more than three times as many leads” (Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/08/content-marketing-stats/)
Your blog isnt just an aspect of content marketing (already an important kind of marketing!), it’s an important aspect. Content Marketing is on the rise as the number one priority of marketers in 2017 and looking into 2018 without any sign of slowing down. It’s good for search engines from an SEO stand point, driving traffic to your site but it’s also an aspect of what is called opt-in marketing. Much of the brand content people follow now is actively pursued by consumers because if it’s good content, it’s interesting to consumers.
A good article I came across in 2015 and have had bookmarked and gone back to a number of times is “Marketing Legend Seth Godin on the Future of Branded Content” (Source: https://contently.com/strategist/2015/02/06/you-need-editors-not-brand-managers-marketing-legend-seth-godin-on-the-future-of-branded-content/) This article is worth a review for anyone trying to wrap their head around marketing in the 21st Century.
Marketing Legend Seth Godin on the Future of Branded Content
Marketing Legend Seth Godin on the Future of Branded Content
Quick Tips:
Title Word Count
Images
Articles with images get 94% more views. (Source)
Post Body Word Count
The average word count of top-ranking content (in Google) is between 1,140-1,285 words. (source)
Why is it so hard when it should be so easy?
Technically blogging is pretty simple. Most website CMS’ like WordPress offer blogging interfaces that are much like using a word processor. But from a “psychology” stand point, it gets complicated.
My clients, generally don’t have the time they say. But when it’s your least expensive form of marketing that reaps some of the greatest reward, who doesn’t have the time to drive leads to their business with a higher rate of conversion? I dare ask.
“While content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing, it generates more than three times as many leads” (Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/08/content-marketing-stats/)
For may people, including myself, it is a hard won habit. Because that’s what you have to do, is make it a habit, that you show up and spend the time blogging. I think psychologically, creating habits is difficult but the focus with this is small steps. Set the time aside every week, perhaps a couple hours each Monday to start. So the first week or two you don’t even get a full blog post out of it, you just stare at the screen, write a couple of words and then erase them, doing this over and over again until you wonder what time it is?
Try again.
Ah well. Sit down again the following week and start again. Maybe this happens a couple of times but hopefully you’re not just sitting there staring at the screen the whole time but instead maybe surfing the web looking for more information about blogging (there is more that this article out there you know!). And maybe more than anything you’re surfing around for inspiration. Perhaps check out a few blogs and start to see how different they all are and and how you could do something that’s all your own and it would be good enough because it is.
So get out there and blog! If you’re not interested in doing it yourself, you can still invest in content marketing right here, we provide this service to many happily rewarded clients visit Sabourin Web & Media and our services page
Why is Content Marketing Today’s Marketing? 10 Stats That Prove It
Why is Content Marketing Today’s Marketing? 10 Stats That Prove It
24 Little-Known Blogging Statistics to Help Shape Your Strategy in 2017
24 Little-Known Blogging Statistics to Help Shape Your Strategy in 2017
One way to find free images that are available and legal to reuse for your website is by searching your preferred search engine. I will use google here but most search engines offer a version of this option.
