Kennebunk, Maine (PRWEB) August 10, 2013
Proper search engine optimization these days is incomplete without a strong focus on content marketing. While many firms may pay lip service of content marketing, they have yet to grasp how and why it works. Proliferating the internet with articles, slideshows, and white papers is not going to get a local business ranked higher in the search engines. However, as My Local Leads advises clients, having the right kind of material, strategically placed online is a grand way to make an improvement in drawing in new leads and can even help in converting those leads.
The number one rule is to have content that is valuable. A good goal is to have the subscription requests for a newsletter flood the mailbox. The content provided by the local business should be useful, entertaining, even memorable. If the company can manage to do all three, that is great. The information should be something that people want to download, want to save, and want to talk about and share with their friends. This could be new research, a case study, or even something controversial. With that last option, however, for commercial enterprises it is important to tread carefully.
Web content to enhance local search marketing efforts should engage the readers or viewers. Remember, online content can be audio, video, text, or graphics. There is a reason companies usually have a bunch of short articles. It is hard to keep a reader’s attention, especially online. Longer content can be successful, but it needs to hold the reader’s interest. If the content can do that, it is already leaps and bounds ahead of most things found online.
It all comes down to producing quality content. Sites like Tumblr, Reddit, and Pinterest have their place, but the influence for their readers can be relatively small. The majority of content is shallow and ineffective. Those with people that subscribe regularly such as the New Yorker, C-Net, Wired, and others have managed to do so, because of the quality they deliver their readers. What if the same level of quality could be delivered as part of marketing?
Educating customers and potential customers is important. Giving too much information can be harmful. However, with online lead generation, it is important for local companies to give people enough information to make a decision. A few blurb that do not really explain the benefits of choosing that company over the competition, is filled with buzz words, and claims such as “Number One” or “Best” do not tell the consumer anything. Give them something to think about, however, and the results can be dramatically different.