by DG | Apr 26, 2022 | Lead Generation, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, SEO, Website Design
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Manufacturers and distributors have very different marketing strategy challenges than B2C companies. Ultimately, your goal is to convince other businesses to work with you and marketing efforts fail if you cannot accomplish this goal.
The time have changed and using the internet to contact more companies and grow your business has never been easier. If you’re looking for modern, reliable, and cost-effective manufacturer marketing strategies, look no further.
The following industrial marketing solutions have been compiled to help you reach more potential partners online. Even if you don’t have much experience with digital marketing, you can follow these steps written in plain English.
Let me explain to you why internet marketing is so successful for manufacturers and other B2B businesses.
The Internet made it easier for retailers to conduct research on potential distributors and their products. Within seconds, they were able to view detailed photos or specs, read reviews, and view customer feedback from a larger number of companies and products.
Due to this change in preference, your marketing must adapt as well. You’re likely missing most of your potential customers if you don’t use the Internet to reach them. Fortunately, you can use this to your advantage. The ROI is much, much easier to track with online marketing than with traditional marketing methods.
Moreover, because online marketing costs are relatively low, manufacturers or distributors are able to experiment more freely, with little or no risk to their business.
With a wide range of options, you can try things and fail without worrying about losing a great deal of money or damaging your reputation. Actually, testing is not only recommended, it’s an important part of the overall strategy as you will soon see.
Here are ways to you can use online marketing to reach more potential customers
Let’s talk about some of the tactics you should try now that you know why digital channels are so beneficial for manufacturer marketing strategies. Here are some of the best marketing strategies we’ve used to reach more potential customers at the lowest cost possible for manufacturers and distributors.
1. Make your website rank for the right keywords
Taking steps to ensure that your manufacturer or distributor website can be found easily by potential customers – and outranks your competitors – should be the first step in your marketing strategy. In search engine optimization – also known as SEO – this is accomplished.
Here’s a quick explanation for those unfamiliar with SEO. When someone types in a keyword related to your business into a search engine, SEO is one of several methods to make your website more likely to show up and rank highly. Choosing the right keywords to target is key.
The easiest way to get started with SEO is to brainstorm words or phrases potential customers would associate with your business. It can be as simple as a phrase or a single word. If you manufacture hardwood flooring, for instance, you might consider everything from “hardwood flooring” to “how to choose hardwood flooring”.
IMPORTANT – DON’T DO THIS…
This is where we see other marketing companies giving bad advice. Let’s stay with the “hardwood flooring” example. If you manufacture hardwood flooring, and try to rank # 1 in Google, you will be in direct competition with every large retailer like Home Depot and Lowes. It will cost a fortune and it won’t help with sales unless you sell directly to consumers.
It is extremely important to understand search intent. Google is all about providing the best results for the assumed intent of keyword search. If someone searches for “hardwood flooring”, Google assumes someone is looking to buy hardwood flooring and wants to see choices. Sure enough, if you do search “hardwood flooring”, all the top results will be from flooring retailers.
As a manufacturer, you should focus on optimizing your site to rank for site search terms that retailers and distributors would use to find your products. Target keywords like “hardwood flooring manufacturer” and “what is the best hardwood flooring”, “wholesale hardwood flooring”.
Take time to brainstorm terms for your industry, and then create content that is optimized to rank high for those terms. We won’t go into an SEO tutorial here but once you understand keyword intent, you can move forward with a successful SEO strategy.
2. Advertise using pay-per-click
Manufacturers also use advertising as one of their top marketing strategies, but not the kind of advertising you’d expect. A pay-per-click ad is one that appears on search engines results pages (SERPs) and other websites.
Manufacturers or distributors can achieve very high returns on investment with PPC ads, which are generally inexpensive. You only pay for them when they are clicked – not when they are viewed – and they contain just a sentence or two of copy with a link to your website. Even if people don’t click on your ad, you are still getting brand exposure for free.
The use of PPC ads, which allow you to control the amount of money you spend to appear in search engine results, can be a tremendous benefit to your brand if you are not ranking highly in search engines. The reports are a huge benefit because they will detail what people are actually searching for and you can do a lot of testing to find out what works best for your company.
Results from PPC are instantaneous, which is one of the major benefits. You can start sending targeted traffic to your website and attract qualified leads as soon as you click to go live with your ads. You will be able to generate leads quickly without exhausting your budget.
3. Find out what converts on your website
We mentioned earlier that online marketing gives you room to try out different methods and to fail if necessary. The conversion rate optimization method, also known as CRO, encourages testing and failure with the goal of increasing conversions and ultimately revenue for your company.
CRO is based on a very simple premise where you test changes on your website and discover what changes provide more conversions. Whether your successful conversion is measured as a phone call or request for quote, a simple change of wording like “Contact Us” to “Get Started” or “Learn More” on a button can sometimes be the answer to significantly boosting your conversion rate. You can try different Headings, images, color schemes etc. The challenge is not to implement this permanently and risk losing all your leads if your gut feeling turns out to be incorrect. With CRO, you can test ideas without losing all your leads.
A/B testing is a method that is implemented to show version “A” of your landing page to one group of website visitors. Then a “B” version of the page is set up to show a different group of visitors. Once the winner is discovered you stick with that page. An experiment can be made safer this way since a drop in conversions in the “B” version immediately causes the test to be dropped. If you make a substantial leap, you can reap immediate benefits and more profit!
4. Develop engaging media and content that ranks well
When retailers search online for products to carry in their stores, they may be seeking photos, videos, or more detailed information than what they might get from a basic summary. Create engaging content and ensure that it ranks highly in search results to capitalize on this desire – and attract more potential B2B customers to your content.
Links to websites are no longer the only result in search engine results. In addition to receiving search results for any query, the searcher can also receive videos, images, locations, and shopping results. Good engaging content that you can get ranked is likely to attract visitors to your website where they can learn more about your products.
Here are some content suggestions and ideas for manufacturers:
- Are there any products you would like a video of in action? Host the video on YouTube (with a link to your website in the description) with a keyword-rich title and description.
- The images on your website should have relevant keywords in their filenames and alt text explaining what is in the image. This can increase the chances of them ranking high in Google Image search for those keywords and lead viewers to your website when they click on it.
- Provide answers to customer questions in your content, like blog posts and videos. Having answers to these questions are likely to rank well on search engines, causing potential customers to read them, then peruse your website for more information. Answer questions on Quora.
- Repurpose existing content. Content repurposing is very effective when you take good quality content and repurpose its structure and message to get more use from your valuable information. You might turn a video into blog posts or slide presentations. Create downloadable cheat sheets or ebooks and use them to build an email list.
- Use surveys to find out what people think about your products and gain insights so you can make improvements to existing products or get ideas for new ones.
5. Establish a strong social media presence
Social media marketing can be slow to take off among B2B companies. For manufacturers, however, social media marketing is a very effective tool. Create a social media profile and your manufacturing company will be exposed to decision-makers and engage with potential clients.
Manufacturers can increase their brand recognition and make meaningful connections through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
As well as sharing product photos, setting up competitions, and creating brand ambassadors, social media can be used for many other things.
YouTube can be a great marketing tool for B2B companies. It’s an excellent opportunity to showcase products and distribute informative content using video.
Social media can also be utilized by manufacturers during product development to get feedback and ideas.
Your marketing strategy can be adjusted based on customer feedback using social media listening tools. Additionally, product forums can be used to discover what customers think about your product.
6. Make it easy to contact you
Last but not least, we suggest making it extremely easy for potential clients to get in touch with you. A simple way to achieve this is to have your phone number prominently displayed on your website, add a dedicated contact form, or utilize social media. Here are some examples of excellent industrial websites.
It may seem obvious but some sites make customers has make it a hassle just to find the contact email or phone number. Take a look at your website and make sure it is very easy to get in touch with your company.
If you want people to call, keep the phone number visible at all times while they are on your website.
You will get more leads. Also, being active on social media can increase your chances of getting in touch with them, as many will reach out to you with questions there so be prepared with answers.
Would you like help with your manufacturer marketing strategy?
Manufacturers often find it challenging to develop and implement marketing plans in-house. Every need is different, and every method must be just right. If you’re struggling to balance your marketing efforts with the demands of running your business, we can help!
We have been working with manufacturing businesses since 2000. Every business is unique and we have the experience to look at the big picture, figure out ways to reach your ideal customers and build a strategy to meet your goals.
Interested in having us build a customized marketing strategy for your company?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][modal_popup_box toppadding=”15″ btnsize=”20″ btnradius=”20″ titlealign=”center” titletext=”Book a Strategy Call” titlesize=”27″ titleline=”4″ contentpad=”30″ contentpad2=”30″ btn_icon=”far fa-arrow-alt-circle-right” btntext=”Book a Strategy Call” btnclr=”#ffffff” hoverclr=”#ffffff” btnbg=”#36b1de” hoverbg=”#1e73be” titleclr=”#ffffff” titlebg=”#36b1de” bgclr=”#ffffff”]
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Also check out our post on “The Power of B2B Marketing Automation – How does it work?“
by DG | May 9, 2022 | Content Marketing, Lead Generation, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, SEO, Social Media
Have you ever been wondering how businesses get so much attention every single day? You see them out there marketing their businesses, and all of a sudden, you start seeing their ad after ad on social media, at work, and everywhere else. So how do they get so many eyeballs on their marketing every day?
The answer is simple — they know how to develop a marketing strategy that will get them noticed. In this article, you are going to learn how to develop a marketing strategy that will get your business noticed.
Whether you are a business owner, an entrepreneur, or just getting started and looking to get your foot into the door of business, this information is for you. It’s important that your company has a marketing strategy in place, no matter what size of business currently is.
The reason for this is because a marketing strategy will help you convert your prospects into customers, and potential customers into long-term customers. In other words, a marketing strategy will help you get your business out to the people who will be most interested in it.
Let’s look at what’s involved in developing an effective marketing strategy.
An Effective Marketing Strategy is Important for any Business
A marketing strategy is essential for any business when it comes to getting their business out there. The problem with this is that many people think they can get by without one. They might believe that they have a great product, service, or idea and all they need to do is advertise it publicly and people will find them.
Well, the truth is that’s not true at all. When someone thinks in this way, they are setting themselves up for failure because there are millions of other businesses doing the same thing, which means no one will notice them.
Define Your Audience
When developing a marketing strategy, it is imperative that you first define your audience. Your marketing strategy should be tailored to them and their needs. If you are an author, for instance, your target audience may be people who enjoy reading.
This means that when creating your marketing campaign, you will want to use images of books and quotes from famous authors in order to attract these specific people. If your business is a construction company and the audience is made up of professionals in the construction industry, then you will want to place images of construction sites and building materials on your site in order to draw attention to those interested in this field.
The point here is that the more specific you are with your defined audience, the better chance you have of getting their attention.
Develop A Solid Content Marketing Strategy
An important first step for long-term growth is to develop a content marketing strategy. In order to get your business noticed, you are going to have to create a lot of content that people will want to read and share. The best way to do this is by finding content that is relevant to the people in your target demographic and then providing even more valuable information on top of it.
For example, if your business sells healthy kale chips, you could provide healthy recipes for dips other food items that are complementary to yours. By taking the time and effort to put out valuable information, you will be able to draw in readers who are interested in what you have to say.
Always Be Updating
One great way to get people looking at your marketing is by updating it. This will show prospects that you are confident in what you have to offer, and that you are constantly trying new ways to keep them interested.
For example, you might update your social media posts every day with new information about your products or services. Or, you may post a video of a new experience that is coming soon on your website. Whatever the case may be, updating your content often will get people talking about it.
Always Be Consistent
One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of businesses make with their marketing is that they are not consistent. You need to be consistent in your marketing if you want it to be effective. You need to put out content on a regular basis, whether it be once or twice per day.
You also need to use social media daily and have ads running on Facebook and other sites on a regular basis as well. The more you do this, the better chance you have of building a following and gaining trust among your target audience. One of the best ways to stay consistent is by using an editorial calendar.
An editorial calendar can help you plan ahead and know what you’re going to post when without having to think about it.
Always Be Testing
The first thing that you need to think about in your marketing strategy is how you are going to test what works and what doesn’t. In other words, you want to try different strategies to see which ones work better than others.
For instance, if you are advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, then you will want to test out different ads with different types of images and copy.
If you are doing PPC advertising then this should be pretty easy for you because you can get results very quickly. Testing both Social advertising and PPC ads is great way for you to figure out what strategy will work best for your company.
By running A/B tests and tracking the metrics like views and conversions you’ll be able to determine what method will give you the best ROI. Then you can optimize your campaigns over time so that they produce the the best ongoing results possible.
You want to always be testing so that you can find the right formula that works best for your business — there is no one size fits all approach when it comes to marketing strategies!
Always Be Watching For Trends
One of the first things that you can do to develop a marketing strategy that will get you noticed is to always be watching for trends. You never know when something might explode, and if you are not paying attention when it does, then you could end up missing out on a lot of potential customers who would have been very interested in your business.
For example, one way that people use social media is by following hashtags. When you post to Instagram use hashtags relevant to your business. If you sell custom furniture you might use hashtags like #customfurniture, #customcoffeetable, and #customchairs etc. If someone who follows these trends happens to come across your business and they see that your company offers custom chairs or custom coffee tables, they may end up contacting you and becoming a customer because they did not know that these products were available before and they live close enough to pick them up.
Look For Opportunities
Always look for opportunities to get noticed. For example, if you are the owner of a clothing boutique, the opportunity to get noticed could be as simple as placing your promotions in a high-traffic area whether it’s online or offline. This will ensure that people have an easier time finding your store.
You also need to think about other ways to get noticed, such as creating pop-up shops or even sponsorship deals for events in your area. Look at that activities of other businesses related to yours and see if there are ways to work together to benefit each other. There are plenty of opportunities for you to get noticed, but it all starts with looking for them.
Conclusion
So you’ve got your business plan complete and now you are ready to develop a marketing strategy that will get you noticed. You may be wondering where to start and all the steps that need to be followed in order to create a successful marketing strategy. The 8 tips outlined above will help you develop a strategy that will get you noticed and establish your business as the go-to in your industry.
by DG | Oct 30, 2018 | Digital Marketing, Business, Online Marketing, SEO
Being online is critical for getting local business. Most people think the internet is just a way to target worldwide customers, but it can also be used effectively for local business.
So how do you generate area specific customers from using the net? There are a few methods that work. Here are three of the best:
#1) Google local
Local.google.com is essentially an “area specific” search engine. When somebody uses it, they just type in the business you are looking for, such as “general contractors.” Then the map will pinpoint the general contractors in their area.
You don’t even need a website to appear here. As long as Google knows about your business, you will appear on the map. Google will also list your address and phone number.
How many people use Google local?
More than fifty million people do so every month. Therefore, it’s easy to see why this would be a good place to target.
The smaller search engines like Bing and Yahoo have their own version as well. It would be a good idea to get listed with them as well. However, Google is the most important, because the vast majority of people use it for local searches.
#2) SEO
Despite the fact that Google local is so popular, tons of people continue using Google.com for their local searches. For this reason, you will want to do an SEO campaign as well, targeting only area specific keywords. For instance, if you are a carpenter living in Toronto, you would probably want to rank #1 for “Toronto carpenters”.
How do you get to the #1 spot?
You will need links pointing to you website. The more links you have, the better. Not all links are created equal.
There are basically two kinds of links: one way and reciprocal. Reciprocal links are where you agree with somebody else to link to their site, as long as they link to yours. This used to be very effective, but that is no longer the case.
Why are one way links the best?
This is because Google knows if another website links to yours without getting anything in return, your site must be quality.
Where should you get one way links?
Guest posts, directory, forum and blog links are among the best out there. For many terms, focusing exclusively on these sites will get you ranked. Reaching out to other relevant website and asking for a backlink is timing consuming but well worth it when you succeed at it.
#3) PPC advertising
Pay per click campaigns allow you to geo-target you campaigns. This allows you to specify which locations you want to show up for.
For instance, if you target the geo-target the keyword “home renovations” to only Richmond Hill, you will only appear when people in Richmond Hill search for that term. If somebody from Windsor types in the same keyword, you won’t appear in their search results. In other words, even though it doesn’t have the word “Windsor” in the keyword, you will still only appear when local people search for it.
The bottom line is, if you aren’t using the internet to generate local sales, you could be losing a lot of money. Hopefully these three tips will help you get started.
If you need help with this, contact us and we’ll setup a time to discuss it.
by DG | Oct 19, 2018 | SEO, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing
You should always think local when starting a Search Engine Optimization strategy. It’s much easier to rank for longtail keywords that have less competition. The name of your city or neighbourhood added to those keywords can be an easy win so you can rank quickly. That’s the best strategy to get started so let’s dig into Local SEO.
Key factors
First things first. Be sure to sign up on Google My Business (GMB). This will be the centre of your local strategy for getting rankings on Google. There may be a listing for your business there already so you’ll need to claim it. Do a Google search for your company name and you may see a listing for your business on the right side hand side in the search results. If you have not claimed it already you will see a “Claim this listing” button that will allow you to do so. Once you have access to your listing you will be able to add all kinds of information about your business and this will get him placed on Google maps as well. Be sure to upload lots of pleasing, relevant images for your business. You can great insights about your business listing in there like how many people viewed you listing and took action etc.
Writing Posts on Google My Business
We highly recommend that you create a post on your GMB listing everyday for at least 2 months. I know this sounds like a lot of work but it’s worth it and they only allow 300 words and you can back it off after your see your listing get into the top 3 local results for your keywords. Don’t stop completely though or competitors will eventually catch up. Try to keep posting at least once a week. This of course depends on how competitive your category is so you may need to adjust accordingly.
Add local content to your website
Blogging is the most effective way to help your rankings in search engine results. Write some blog posts that are unique to your local area and align with your local business. Doing some good keyword research prior to writing is articles will go along way. By doing so you can find out what people actually search for when they’re looking for your type of business in your area. For instance if you are a roofing company people might search for “toronto roofing company” (720 searches per month) but there are more searches for “toronto roofers” (1900 searches per month) so you should definitely have the data beforehand so that you can get the most out of your efforts. You can use Google Keyword Planner to get this data. Another new favourite free tool for keyword research is Ubersuggest from SEO expert Neil Patel.
Get listed on directories
Leveraging online directories is an excellent way to improve your online visibility. Claim any listings you can on sites like Yelp and Yellow Pages and other similar ones. Make sure all your profiles have the exact same contact information about your business. This is very important. You’ll also have to monitor these listings as many of them except reviews about your business. You need to stay on top of this and respond to reviews good or bad. Your online reputation is really important so I need to take this seriously.
We have a great tool to help you monitor this – checkout the OCEANONE Reputation Manager. And, if you don’t have the time we also provide a fully managed Reputation Management Service.
Here’s an excellent video on how to respond to reviews…
SEO Best Practices
Finally, be sure that you are using SEO best practices throughout your website. Things like properly formatted URLs and keyword rich descriptive title tags as well as descriptive metadata are important to make sure that Google’s algorithms pick up the best possible information about your page. Of course, make sure that your contact information on the website matches exactly what you added to all those directories you just listed on.
These are just a few things you can do to improve your visibility for local searches but they are the most important. Make sure these on-page improvements are done before taking any other steps. Depending on how competitive your category is, this might be all that you need to do to get the results you want. Start there and see how goes. If it’s not enough to get you in the top three local results there are other strategies. It’s not that complicated but it can be very time consuming.
If you don’t have the time, we can help. We have a Free listing builder app to get you started with getting your listing synced up on Google My Business, Facebook and Twitter. Once you have that set up you can easily add one of our paid packages that make it very easy to get listed on the sites we have discussed here. Learn more about it it out here.
Download our list of “Top 100 Sites To Be Listed On“. Our Listing Distribution add-on lets you build accurate business listings on the four major data aggregators—Factual, Acxiom, Infogroup, and Neustar Localeze. These aggregators are referenced by over 300 websites.
When multiple sources have consistent business data, two outcomes occur:
- Google’s WebCrawler finds the same information in multiple places and adds more confidence to their business data
- Good backlinks are created with more referring sources to the business’ website creating better SEO.
Here’s an excellent video on the importance of have accurate listings online…
Also check out our recent post “Online Reputation Management Tips for Boosting your Local SEO” .
If you already have listing and you have experienced Fake Reviews you’ll want to check out “How to remove “Google reviews when you know they are fake“.
It’s also important to get as many backlinks as you can in order to generate organic traffic. If you need help with that or any other SEO tasks, checkout our SEO services page.
by DG | Nov 12, 2021 | Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, SEO
Updated: Nov, 12, 2021
You are likely well aware of the concept of content marketing by now. It’s a tactic that helps you engage and attract customers and prospects by delivering quality content that provides value for everyone who visits your site. And the strategy has a lot of staying power.
Here are just a few areas in which content marketing can help you.
Driving Conversion
A great benefit of content marketing is that it helps your company drive more conversions over time. Research shows that companies that create consistent marketing content experience conversion rates almost six times higher than their competitors.
Increasing Traffic and Brand Awareness
Publishing consistent blog posts that engage audiences will help you bring in more traffic to your site over time. According to HubSpot, companies that published more than 16 blog posts per month got almost three and a half times more traffic than those that only published fewer than four posts.
It also helps educate people about your brand and raises the level of brand awareness that is otherwise not there when you don’t publish blog posts outlining what your company does or sells.
Check out our Pro Blogging Packages
Building trust and Fostering Relationships
You can build real relationships with your customers through content driven marketing. It allows customers to really absorb your philosophy and thinking patterns and associate themselves with your values. This allows them to take a peek in to the way that your company does business. It’s a lot more personal and less presumptuous than an advertisement.
Building Credibility and Expertise
Well written and polished content automatically comes across as professional and authoritative. It allows people to see your company as an expert or an authority on the subject of your business. It also allows you to be seen as a major player in the industry.
Cost Effectiveness and SEO Visibility
According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing even though it generates three times as many leads. It also helps your company and topics trend better in search engines, specifically Google. Allowing your content to trend well allows for greater visibility.
Targeting Specific Audiences
It’s important to know exactly who you’re selling to when you’re selling a product or a service. For this reason, content driven marketing is useful to get your message across to your target demographic. It sounds extremely cold and calculating, but it’s useful without a doubt.
Engaging Content Makes a Personal Connection
As outlined above, it’s more engaging and personal than an advertisement. The written word, when written well has a much better connection with your readers and customers than an ad ever can, hence, the emphasis on content driven marketing.
Can bring you Unexpected Customers
It’s incredible that content marketing can bring you customers from so many different places that are not your target demographic. You can use trends and current hot topics to market your products or services to people that won’t normally look twice in your direction.
Do you need great content for your website? As on of the top small business branding agencies, we have great writers standing by that can produce excellent, affordable content on any topic. Check out our packages.
It’s also important to get as many backlinks as you can in order to generate organic traffic. If you need help with that or any other SEO tasks, checkout our SEO services page.
by DG | Mar 27, 2021 | Content Marketing, SEO
Updated: March 27, 2021
Good SEO involves many elements. There is the technical audit where you make sure there are no technical problems that prevent your site from ranking. Then there is the whole keyword research and optimization process which is the most important step and beyond the scope of this article. Don’t forget about backlinks of course.
Then there is the most powerful aspect of all and that is high-quality content. Stop thinking in terms of ‘SEO’, ‘blogging’ and ‘social media marketing’ as separate things and instead think about your SEO in terms of ‘content marketing’.
Think of SEO as a combination of all your marketing strategies – merge them together. You need to remove technical issues first. That is an absolute. Beyond that you need to use all the digital marketing strategies, keyword relevant blog posts, guest posts, social media posts, backlinks, videos and more to really succeed at getting ranked on high in Google searches.
Now “Good SEO” also means writing amazing posts and when you share them you have a better chance of getting more backlinks. That great content will keep people on your page longer – another Google ranking factor. Yes, Google notices how long visitors stay on your page.
Regardless of your strategy, there is no doubt that content is absolutely the most important asset when it comes to attracting traffic and impressing Google.
But just what is content marketing?
Content Marketing – What is it Exactly?
Content marketing is about creating content that will build a readership on your site and ensuring that people begin to hold you as an authority and trust what you have to say. While this is powerful and useful is in its own right, it’s actually only one part of what content marketing is about. At the same time, your excellent blog post articles will also help Google make sense of your site, its posts, and its content. This greatly aids organic search.
It means demonstrating your knowledge and point of view. Ultimately, you want people to seek you out as an authority. Once you get to that point, you’ll be considered an expert in your field and you’ll be able to greatly influence your audience – possibly influencing their buying behaviour. The content doesn’t just have to be posts on your blog. Content can be presented in Guest posts, Social media posts, Presentations, Infographics, Case Studies, White Papers/Reports, Ebooks, Email Newsletters, Webinars, Quizzes, Polls, Podcasts, Checklists, Photos and of course Videos.
DOWNLOAD Our Free Content Marketing Planner (In Google Sheets, click FILE > make copy). It has a daily, monthly and archive view as well as a brainstorming tab.
How to Build Trust and Authority with SEO
So what is the process behind reaching authority? The key is to think about the sites and blogs that have influenced you over the years – the ones you read regularly.
How do you think they did it? This isn’t about building trust with Google alone but rather with your readers so that they want to keep coming back. That means delivering value time after time in posts and content.
Each post that you create for your blog should provide highly useful and relevant information that is not fluffy but is actionable.
At the same time, users should be able to see that your site offers something unique compared to competition sites, something which isn’t available elsewhere. The differentiation between your sites and others is extremely important, especially in crowded niches. You can’t simply follow the pattern of other sites, you need to try and take your own perspectives.
There are hundreds of thousands of posts covering almost everything possible. Offering something different amongst this content mountain may seem like an impossible task but with the infinite opinions of people, you can always find a unique angle to take on even the most run-of-the-mill subjects.
Once you’ve conceptualized your posts, you should ask yourself: would you read the content?
You also need to be consistent and reliable and always live up to your brand ethos. Make sure you establish a mission statement and objectives and portray these through your content efforts to create a continuous self-branded stream of information.
Always work hard on reflecting your brand with design. Logos and website designs are extremely important. You must remain consistent throughout different forms of marketing on different platforms, including on different forms of social media.
When writing, always bear your reader in mind. This ties into the fact that Good SEO is about making things great for the reader. That way, people can actually get excited about you and will really get behind what you’re trying to do!
What’s Your SEO Goal?
The immediate goal should be to offer consistent value and to become a source that people start to trust. That way, when someone searches for the answer to a question, they might read your post and be impressed. That leads to more shares, more engagement and better SEO.
If you then repeatedly come up in search results, individuals who were impressed might recognize you and be more likely to click your listing over the rest. Then they might decide to look around the rest of your content after they’ve been impressed a few times. Eventually, you become their “go-to source” for answers in your niche. Well done: you just won at content marketing!
The key to content marketing is consistency and value. Always deliver good information that is manageable. By doing this, you’re working with Google to serve the user and Google are promoting you as they know you are delivering relevant and effective content. It makes sense from both an SEO and business perspective – you want to build trust, reputability and authority alongside a base of repeat users.
After investing a lot of time writing a blog post, you should certainly consider repurposing it. Maybe it would make a good video or slide presentation. Perhaps write a few related post a create an ebook that you can distribute or use for a lead magnet.
While the focus of this post is content marketing and how it relates to SEO there is certainly a lot more you can do. We’ll write more about that in future posts. If you need some free tools check out this list of free content creation tools by .
Needless to say, before you dive deep into content marketing, you need to make sure that you you have optimized your on-site SEO factors. The amazing @Neil Patel recently made that a little easier with his awesome SEO Analyzer which will show you what you need to fix in a few seconds. It provides your overall SEO score and your competitors score. You can check your site speed score, keywords and more. Plus you can download the report as a PDF so you can send it to your webmaster.
Here’s a great resource from Guru99 that has a list of the 20 Best Web Analytics Tools to Track Your Website Performance.
If you need help with SEO for your website, checkout our SEO services page.
Also check out our recent post “10 MUST-KNOW SEO TIPS TO BOOST YOUR SEARCH RANKINGS“
