how to create a content strategy
DESCRIPTION
Content Strategy, How to Create for online marketing and public relationsTRANSCRIPT
How To CreateA Content Strategy
Presented by:
Expansion Plus
© 2009 Expansion Plus Inc All Rights Reserved.
Purpose of the Exercise To prepare an
Internet marketing strategy to maximize your web site's search visibility and conversion rate
Content Is King
Top ranking sites consistently have well writing content as a feature in common. The old saying “content is king” has never been more true than it is today.
Copywriting
Good copywriting can help change your website focus to address your visitors’ concerns and help you out-perform your competitors’ websites.
Generate Content
• Thus a major effort must be made to generate and syndicate content that contains links back to your web site.
• Searchers believe natural search results produce the most relevant information.
Think Like A Publisher
• Successful online marketers must now ‘think like a publisher’.
• SEO is more than making a few adjustments to the site’s page copy, or adding some extra code. It is an ongoing process that helps your site evolve over time into a viable competitor in your industry.
Search Visibility & Brand Value
Being found on the first half of a search results page increases your brand value.
Google Golden Triangle
Internet Ad Spending
• Set To Overtake All Other Media By 2011
• Will reach $61.98 billion, and will surpass newspapers to become the nation's leading ad medium
- 21st Communications Industry
Forecast.
What is Influencing Consumers and Business Buyers?
“A Person Like Me” Now The Most Credible Spokesperson
for Companies
Global opinion leaders say their most credible source of information about a company is now “a person like me.”
Edelman Trust Barometer
Consumer Reviews
Influencing Purchases
58% of consumers prefer websites with peer-written product reviews.
- MarketingSherpa
Control of Consumer Spending?
Women represent just over 50 percent of the US population but account for 80 percent of consumer spending, making women top candidates for word-of-mouth marketing.
- Trendwatching brief
Word Of Mouth
Over 25 million US adults regularly share advice on products or services online.
- eMarketer
Social Media
1 in 20 internet visits go to social networking sites.
- Hitwise
Seniors
• Internet Growth Driven by Senior Citizens
• The fastest growth in Internet use is being driven by the older age groups, starting at 55.
The Media Audit
Top 5 Media Influencers on Consumers Buying a Car
1. Word of Mouth 30.4%
2. TV Broadcast 24.1%
3. Read Article 21.3%
4. Newspaper 20.2%
5. Magazine 17.5%
Source: Ad Age Domestic Spending by
Category and BIGresearch, 2007
Top 5 Media Influencers for Consumers Buying Electronic/Home
Furnishing/Appliances
1. Word of Mouth 42.6% 2. Read Article 34.1% 3. TV Broadcast 32.3% 4. Newspaper Inserts 32.0% 5. In-Store Promo 27.2%
- BIGresearch, 2007
Organic Search
• Although social media has become important, being found on the major search engines is still vitally important.
• Aim to own the ‘above the fold’ real estate
Audit Your Site• Locate search
visibility problems and usability issues with the current site
• Review content for persuasive function and conversion
Check the Competition
Compare your site to the competition and other websites that have page one ranking on your keywords
Persuasive Content
• Studies show that the average website loses over 60% of the visitors right off the home page due to usability issues and a lack of relevant content.
• 50% of visitors spend less than eight seconds on a site.
SEO Basics
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) done well results in high rankings with the search engines
• Most people find content through search with Google leading the pack
Back Links Are Vital
• The site must be optimized
• The site must have volumes of links to it (Called back links or one way inbound links)
Keyword Research
• The objective is to find a viable number of keywords that your target audience is using to find your site or your products/services.
• Then use the keywords on the site and in the content
Keyword Research
• Look at the titles of the web pages and look for keywords
• Go to ‘View’ and click ‘Source’ and see if there are keywords in the meta tags
• Note the ones that you find
• Open a browser and go to
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
Keyword Research (cont’d)
• Look up any words that relate to the site and see which ones have the highest search numbers.
• Then look down the list and find ‘long tail’ words with smaller search numbers but a more specific description of your activity or service.
Long Tail
Long Tail: low-demand products/services can make up a market share that equals or exceeds high-demand products -- if the distribution channel is large enough.
Sample Camera Keywords
• Digital camera• Digital camera
accessories• Photographic
equipment• Point and shoot
camera• Medium format
camera
Keywords
• Find all the words that you think can bring good visibility and traffic
• Open another browser in Google so you can do a search on the words you pick and see the number of competing pages
Start of the Strategy
• Note the words you will go after first.
• With correct optimization, there are several terms which can be taken advantage of that have high searches, but relatively low competition.
Home & Interior Pages
• The homepage & interior page content needs to be rewritten to utilize these keywords to the best advantage
Content Items
Note phrases that can be used in content syndication – news releases, articles and blog posts.
Competition
• Take each major keyword or phrase picked for the strategy and do a Google search on that keyword/phrase.
• See who shows up at #1, 2 and 3
Eye Track: Web Page
• This is the normal eye pattern on a webpage – where it is red 100% of the people looked.
• You can increase the way people read the site by using chunk of content and sub headings on the content.
Top Five Errors
1. Too much motion – animation
2. Slow downloads, too many graphics3. Confusing navigation
4. Not enough content or outdated content
5. Technology that will hurt Search results (Frames – no keywords in text – text in a image)
Optimized Press Releases
• Optimized (making full use of keywords and links) press releases are an excellent tool to generate leads.
• An important benefit of optimized press releases is that they create volumes of links back to your site, which is critical for search engine rankings - especially Google - and they work very quickly
Press Releases Online
News Engines
Search Engines
Journalists
Buyers
RSS Feeds
It’s the ability to access content any time of the day that’s attracting the audiences--a perfect match for RSS (really simple syndication) feeds.
The blog and feed search sites - called news aggregators - gather syndicated content and have growing audiences who visit their sites to find new content.
News Aggregators
Blogs
• Use blogs to help tell your story
• Brings a face to your organization
• Can provide feedback to a specific question or topic
• Search engines love them
• Cross linking in your site
Strategy Elements
• Upgrade the site
• Undertake ongoing SEO (search engine optimization) especially link building
• Issue optimized press releases
• Add RSS feeds for press releases, articles, video, etc
• Utilize social media sites where appropriate
Recommended Reading
THE POWER OF A
CONTENT STRATEGY
By Sally Falkow
www.falkowinc.com/inc/ebooks.html