Content marketing tips for small businesses

By Jenny Hopkins

jhopkins@journalnet.com

Content Marketing is a way of communicating with your customers and potential customers without selling. Instead of selling your products and services you are providing valuable information and content in order to build brand loyalty and awareness.

It's a tactic that is used by many large brands, including BarkBox.com. BarkBox is a service in which the subscriber receives a box monthly filled with dog toys and treats for his or her canine companion. A percentage of the proceeds are donated to canine rescue groups and animal shelters. BarkBox also produces a newsletter that features news stories about dogs and the animal rescue groups. The newsletter is not selling their product, but provides a service by giving subscribers feel-good stories about something that interests them – canines.

Content marketing also helps your website get picked up by search engines like Google. Search engines use “bots” to “crawl” the web and catalog elements such as keywords in order to create their search rankings. If a website does not get updated the “bots” have no reason to come back to the site and it will drop in the search rankings. Sites that are updated more frequently appear higher in search rankings, so creating fresh content for your site plays a crucial part in getting your site recognized by search engines.

Of course we don't all have time to create a weekly or monthly newsletter, and hiring a content marketer is not in the budget. But there some things you can do right now to create fresh content, some of which you may already have.

1. Shoot a quick video: Content marketing does not have to be text-based. It can be photo and video too. Try taking a quick video that features a new employee or a behind-the-scenes of your business. How-to videos are huge right now, so try creating a quick how-to video that relates to your business or service without directly selling it. You don't have to be a professional videographer to do this, every cell phone has a camera built in nowadays, and there are countless free video editing apps available on Google Play or the App Store. Just remember to not make the video too long, a minute or two is good, any longer than that and your viewers are likely to lose interest.
2. Add some history about your business: You already know how, when and why your business got started, and of course you're proud of it, so why not tell the world! Write a mission statement, a little information about the inspiration behind your business's beginnings, or a time-line of events and milestones.
3. Add photos: Take some quick behind the scenes photos of your staff or a step in the process of creating whatever product or service you offer. Did your business recently have an employee retreat or volunteer in the community? Take some photos to post on your website and social media. Show your human side.
4. Use curated content: Create a round-up of links to articles that relate to your industry. Save your audience time by bringing the best articles and information regarding your service or product to them in one place. If your business is home décor, for example, create a list of articles about the latest home design and Do-It-Yourself trends. Make sure you link back to the original source.
5. Encourage user-generated content: Wouldn't it be great if you could get people to interact with your business or service for free? Well, you can, but only if you ask for it. Try prompting your audience to share a photo of themselves enjoying your product or service or asking them to tweet about how your product or service has benefited them. Don't be vague, pick a specific theme. Going back to the home décor, for example, you could ask people to share a photo of their best fall decorating projects. Use a hashtag that corresponds with the theme to encourage others to participate. You'll get more response with some than others, but don't get discouraged, try different prompts until you find the ones that click. Try offering a prize for participants to increase participation. Pick a random participant to win or offer a discount to all.

Get more marketing tips and find out how ISJ Media can expand your digital reach at www.isjmedia.net

Search Engine Optimization tips

By Jenny Hopkins

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is taking steps to making sure your website ranks highly in search engine results.

When you perform a search on Google, Google uses its own algorithm to match websites with the words in the search and ranks them starting with the best match.

As technologies update and evolve so do the search engine algorithms. For example, now that more people are using their mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to surf the web and search for information, Google has changed its search algorithm to recognize that the user is on a mobile device and will only provide results for web pages that are mobile optimized. Google knows not to waste your time by showing you a website that will not display well on your phone because you typed in the search from your phone.

That is just one of many factors Google takes into account when compiling search results. Here are some other major factors that help your page get picked up:

• A complete landing page. This may seem like a no-brainer, but sometimes we get so caught up in design, updating social media, etc. that we forget that the devil is in the details. Make sure the home page of your website includes all the basics: Phone number, address, services provided, map and or directions and social sharing buttons. The more “complete” and informative your home page is, the more it will get Google’s attention.

• Add or claim your business listing on Google. Go to https://www.google.com/maps and type in your business name. Does the map zoom in to your business location? If it does, there will be a “claim your business” option in the column that appears to the left of the map. Follow those steps to create your Google business listing. This helps your business in several ways. First, you can control what the Google map search result says about your listing. Your phone number, website, hours and more show up right there on the map. You can add photos to your listing and customer reviews will appear as well. And of course, this helps the Google search engine find your page. If your search of the map does not reveal your business, you can create a Google business page first and then plug in the address. Click here to get started building your Google My Business page. Just an FYI, you’ll need to verify your business page. After all, you don’t want just anyone to register as your business. You need to prove that you are really you. It’s easy to verify your business, once you create your page Google will send you an automated phone call and give you a special code. Then you just need to type that code into the designated place on your listing. Easy peasy.

• Update frequently. Just because you built it does not mean they will come. Update your website on a regular basis. If your page has not been updated since the invention of the smartphone your page ranking will drop. Include keywords in your blog posts and pages. Most websites have built-in search engine optimization tools. On the back end of your website there should be an area where you can type in keywords. This does not show up on your site, but putting in words that describe your services will help it get picked up. Think about what words you would use to search for your business.If you have a blog for your business make sure to add “tags” or “labels” with key words. All blogging platforms have a built-in area for this purpose.

• Measure your results. Check your website’s analytics. Is there a page or article that is performing very well in terms of attracting web traffic? One that’s not? Compare and take notes on what your page viewers are responding positively and negatively so that you can plan accordingly for future content.

• TIP: Make sure that your basic information is the same across the Internet. If the business phone number, address, etc. on your website differs from your Google business listing you’ll lose credibility and your search ranking will drop.

There are literally thousands of things that contribute to a website’s search engine ranking, but these are the biggies.

Do you have a search engine optimization success story? Let me know at jhopkins@journalnet.com

What is SEO and how does it apply to my business?

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is making sure your company ‘s website and web presence is optimized for a user’s mobile experience.

With more people than ever using their mobile devices rather than desktop computer for Internet surfing, having a prominent and user-friendly mobile presence is critical.

SEO includes: Making sure your web site looks great on a mobile device. Sure your web site looks great on a desktop computer, but how does it look on your phone or tablet? Try it out.  Is it easy to use? Is it “clunky?” When your customers come to your mobile site are they going to get frustrated and leave for your competitor’s site?

Also, Google’s new algorithm won’t pick up sites that aren’t optimized for mobile on a mobile search. In other words, if a user searches for “pizza delivery” on his or her iPhone, and your pizza business does not have a mobile website they won’t see you.

Also, recent research done by a group of SEO Professionals reports that long form, in depth content is more likely to rank highly in a Google search than short, brief posts. Read more about the study here.

Use Google to increase organic traffic

Most small businesses have a tight budget. After paying for building maintenance, employee wages, supplies, etc. there is not much left over to pay for advertising.

There are countless services out there that offer to advertise your company online, such as Facebook and Google ads, but with a little bit of research you can reach people who are searching for your product or service by using the content on your web site.

Getting people to your web site without paying for advertising is called "organic traffic." It's a lot like word of mouth.

When adding content to your website, keep in mind the keywords that your ideal audience would type into a Google search to find your product. For example, people looking for digital marketing are searching for "digital marketing," "social media," "social media marketing," "online marketing," etc.

Make sure the content on your website is rich with keywords related to your product. Google "bots" routinely crawl the Internet and make a record of wording on websites. that's what fuels the search results.

Not sure what keywords to use? Google AdWords has a keyword tool that gives you a list of the most used keywords that relate to your product or service. Using AdWords is free, you just have to have a Google account. Using the keyword tool is free, you are not required to buy a Google ad.

Click here to learn more about organic traffic and writing quality content.