Internet marketing is more than writing blogs. Way more. Bernadette Coleman will share her “Complete List of Engaging Content Ideas” and her secret sauce for engagement that will drive more traffic, deliver targeted visitors, higher conversion rates, and enhance your SEO. If you are a digital marketer this session is a MUST attend. Use her strategy and watch your traffic, clicks and sales numbers soar. You will not believe what everyone thinks of #72.
Let’s take a deeper look into the new face of content and how marketers can create content that both people and the search engines will love.
Your entire online marketing strategy should revolve around the convergence of content, search, and social with quality content being the dominant piece of the puzzle.
Google highly rates content which is original, high-quality, free of spelling and grammar errors, and valuable.
The new search engine algorithms are getting better and better at indexing and ranking your content the way a human reader would.
(Symantec Search is here to stay)
Quality content is much more sharable.
Social Media is now the number one reason why people use the internet,
So creating content people enjoy enough to share with their friends presents an enormous potential.
Your readers are far more likely to come back to visit your site and even subscribe to regular updates via email newsletters or RSS feeds if they find your content interesting or entertaining.
The search engines reward content which provides value to people.
Gone are the days of publishing large amounts of poor quality content and using automated article submission tools.
Creating great content, by contrast, is not quite as easy, but practicing a few good habits can make a great deal of difference.
Try to be fairly consistent with your publishing schedule so that you always have something to offer your readers when they come back to your page. But balance is important too – don’t fall into the trap of posting too much without doing your research.
Curated Link Lists: Link lists are as old as the commercial Internet itself, and they represent the ascension of many great web properties like Yahoo! and Google. Creating valuable link lists can attract many readers to your owned assets through social sharing and search. Consider a regular content program for subjects in your themed area, such as “top blogs,” “top news posts today,” a “complete resource list,” “funniest,” or “most useful.” You can also categorize a particular area of the web that you may find to be lacking structure and create value for people who are interested in the core subject or theme.
Tips: If your goal is to show thought leadership or demonstrate commanding knowledge in a particular area of expertise, offer tips and helpful advice using various asset types, such as text, apps, video, images, and so on. Helpful tip lists are good share bait, and they provide traffic and social conversation consideration for your business and brand.
Offering up an application, screen savers, plug-ins, ebooks, and other productivity enhancements is another great way to solve a problem for your audience and create a shareable event. Useful assets can travel quickly via shared networks and gain a lot of exposure for your business.
“Complete” Lists A “complete” list is similar to a link list but is distinguished as being more exhaustive and comprehensively researched. “Complete”
lists might contain as many as 50 unique items or more,
with detailed information, images, and commentary for each item, while reinforcing each one within the context of the article title. Complete lists might fall along the lines of “best of” lists, “top ranked” lists, or some other context of viewing an entire scope of a particular topic or theme. These types of lists typically help attract social sharing but will also link back to the unique article.
Case Studies: Creating a real-world business case is another excellent way to attract a like-minded business or consumer audience in both earned and social spaces. Good case studies can take on a life of their own and often get shared around the Web.
Research and Statistical Data: If you have any data or statistics that provide unique insights into a business or consumer problem, then research is one content idea that could catapult your website and social presence into the mainstream social conversation. Think about the unique data that you may be collecting in some form, or think of a potential research study you would like to conduct. You can show your results as simple charts or graphs or in more complex ways, such as a searchable database or application that produces customized charts and reports.
Quizzes: Putting together a quiz for your audience is a fun way to earn their attention and help test the knowledge of your audience on a particular topic of interest. Quizzes help your audience to grow in their knowledge and reveal potential content ideas for your own strategy.
Polls and Surveys: Polls and surveys are a great way to gauge what your audience is thinking and get a pulse on your market-research efforts. There are many free and paid survey applications that you can use with your blog or on a social network.
Live Video: Use Ustream, Google Hangouts, or other live video services to broadcast content and create a live discussion format with your audience.
Interviews providing insightful Q&As with interesting people or thought leaders in your business area is a great way to attract a like-minded audience. Interviews can be fun, engaging, informative and can include many asset types, including video, audio, text, and images.
My approach to getting interviews is to invite people to be featured on my blog. This acknowledges their expertise and shows that I respect their input. That helps me build relationships with other important individuals in my field.
Interviews also help me broaden my reach and my network. I am banking on my subject telling their associates, friends, and connections about their interview, thus generating visibility for myself and my blog. As they share news about the interview, they create backlinks to my site, boosting my blog’s authority with search engines. See how that works?
Special and unique content comes when I share my real life stories and experience. When I tell a story that relates to my experiences or example within the context of a current topic or business problem, I feel I am developing a deeper relationship with my audience. Consider relating a business experience in a blog post and share on a major social network or discuss in a live presentation or webinar.
One of my favorite and most successful blogs was called “Why Do We Do Everything Google Says”. In my blog I talk about a dinner conversation we were having at my home with my husband regarding Google’s best practices and how we could use these to make changes then all of a sudden my daughter asked, “Why do you have to do everything Google says”? With that one question from someone outside our industry I was able to raise questions in my blog that created quite a bit of online conversation and social sharing. (Not to mention my daughter was excited that I included her in my blog!)
“Things to Do”: If you are in an area that you know well, offer recommendations for local attractions, restaurants, and other helpful localized tips. If a sizable amount of your audience is from out of town and attending an event in your area, show a little bit of hospitality and provide useful content – they won’t forget.
Posts About Other Posts: When I write a column for SEJ, I will often include an additional post on our company blog or personal blog. This way, I can tell the regular audience in one channel about his column and also offer different bits of information to supplement the topic. Sometimes I will also write a quick blog post about a press mention or citation with additional background and commentary.
Commentary and Editorial: In establishing yourself as a conversation leader, it is important to communicate your opinions on the main issues and topics that are critical to your industry or to the needs of your audience. This commentary can come in the form of a blog post, social conversation, status updates, longer white papers, and many other formats. If you have an opinion and you know you are right, don’t be shy; share it with your network. Be ready to elaborate on your position and to follow-up with comments from your audience or network.
Thought Leadership: A good piece of insight is one of the best ways to establish yourself and your business as a thought leader in both the content space and your business space. Thought leadership may take on the form of a book, live speaking, webinars, PowerPoint slides, white papers, or a blog. It doesn’t happen overnight, and you will need to be diligent, consistent, and focused in your efforts.
Glossaries: Providing a glossary, or dictionary of terms related to your area of business, is a great way to provide informative content that can be referenced in social spaces when needed, and to appear in search-engine results. Consider putting all of your glossary terms on a single page, or create unique pages for each term for expanded definitions.
Write Down Ideas – As you are going through your daily tasks, reading your industry blogs, conversing with others in your industry, ideas for future content may be right in front of you. Create a spreadsheet that you can update with interesting bits of information as you go through the day. Refer to this spreadsheet when you need a content idea for your next blog.
Ask a provocative question
Post Something Funny
Share an interesting blog or an article
Comment on a recent news item
Post an inspirational picture or quote or meme
Request follower feedback
Ask for reviews on the products or services