Although content marketing is not a new concept, many businesses are still hazy about what it is and how it benefits them. Simply put, content marketing involves creating and sharing media and information in order to attract customers. Content marketing is at its best when it’s used to inform, educate, or entertain customers, and not be a glorified sales pitch.
That’s all well and good, but what does that have to do with your website ranking? Let me tell you:
Sharing Builds Links for You
Great content has a way of getting around. Social media networks and online communities love sharing anything they find cool or interesting. These links will in turn be shared by other people, and so on. This organic method of link building and distribution is cheaper, more effective, and is valued more by search engines than link farming or link purchasing. It’s also much less effort than going around the Internet yourself and dropping links to your site like breadcrumbs.
It’s All-Natural
Search engines can tell whether or not links are shared naturally or through “artificial” means. Like I said above, natural links give more weight to your search score, and helps drum up more interest in your company/website. The benefits of natural links last longer, and grow over time the same way a dollar put in a savings account accrues interest.
It Increases Site Traffic
One of the main weaknesses of paid link building and link farming is that, while it may increase your search engine ranking in the short run, it won’t drum up much actual business. It’s a hollow accomplishment that doesn’t earn you any money.
People who go to your site for great content, however, will be actively interested in what you have to say. Once there, the content (and all the other great content you’ve previously posted) will encourage them to stick around and have a look at the rest of your site. Eventually, they’ll also be interested in what you have to offer, and they’ll change from audience to customer!
Organic Keywords
Unscrupulous SEO marketers sometimes post blogs, articles, or web copy that is nothing but thinly disguised keyword spam. It’s barely readable, useless to a customer, and hurts web search rankings. Great content, however, employs organic keywords. These are keywords that occur naturally within the context of an article or post. The way it’s used provides value to a reader while being algorithm-friendly enough for search engines to pick up.
Authorship Markup
This is a new Google feature that puts the spotlight on an article author. It dsiplays the number of likes, shares, G+ points, and retweets the author has received over the course of his online publication career. It helps both the author and the reader in different ways. For the reader, it allows them to gauge how much of an authority the author is in their field and if they’re worth listening to. For the author, it helps increase his visibility and makes it simpler for readers to find him and his articles.
Businesses can use the authorship markup feature to promote staff and executive bloggers to the Internet, and to help establish their company blogs as valuable industry resources.
Has content marketing helped to grow your business? What kind of information did you share with your customers, and how did your customers like it? Post it in the comments below!
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