Thursday, May 9, 2013

Using SEO and Content Marketing Techniques

By Arron Vepel


Business and marketing improvement groups are talking a lot about content marketing, which is in high demand at this time. But what does this actually mean, and how is it relevant to SEO?

What Is Content Marketing?

When you break it down, it simply means opening a line of dialogue between you and your potential customers and clients, it is not about immediate sales. Non-interruption marketing is another way to look at it. You are making your customer more knowledgeable with data, not just delivering a sales pitch on services and products offered. The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.

Customers are more engaged when informed by content, and different consumer types and potential buyers are better served and persuaded to continue their connection with your company.

What Does it Do?

Content marketing alone will not generate leads and loyalty, but it can help an organization enhance its positioning as a thought leader and innovator, connect with audiences in a more authentic and personal way, and directly impact its Website's search engine rankings and traffic.

With content marketing, you can take advantage of these tools to create articles, blog posts, microblogs, videos, podcasts, webinars, and more to establish thought leadership and build a relationship with your prospects and customers. When a customer needs help with their product or service and looks for information, your company provides the knowledge they need to educate, entertain, and engage them.

Why Is It Relevant To SEO?

With the advent of Google Panda and Penguin updates, unique content building has become one of the rules of pretty much every online marketing campaign. The SERPS will show that this content has been recognized by the search engines, and this will help rankings.

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google Plus are places where customers will share the best of your content. This has become a substantial part of search engine rankings, when social networking sites have shared your content.

The type of content all depends on the industry of the company, and on what topics are most important to the target audience.

A business blog not only gives you a platform to demonstrate expertise in your field, but it also enables you to optimize content around your business name, industry, and products and services so it's found in search engine results. A business blog can also serve as a starting point to share everything from your company, using new features including in the different platforms for blogging.

Content that is more compelling to some consumers comes in the form of videos. Customers are likelier to actually pay for a product or service when they have watched a video on the subject, studies have shown.

And ebooks have become an essential component of most content marketing strategies. When vast amounts of data are important to communicate to clients or customers, ebooks are a good option to make this happen. Because ebooks generally require a download, you can use them as a way to generate new leads and collect important information from your interested prospects.

Every business must constantly research the market to find out what content has the most benefit for consumers, and what will promote the brand the most.