Get Off the Hamster Wheel With Your Content
Do you ever feel like you are a hamster running as fast as you can, but just going in circles?
You are constantly reading about how you need to write content, how you need to post regularly on the various social media platforms, how many times A DAY you need to post on each, how many emails to send a week— oh my! I'm tired just writing that! THAT sounds like a full-time job already!
But your business, whether it's growing or established requires most of your attention. And besides that, you just don't have time or like that "writing stuff."
Why Content Creation Is Important
Marketing has changed dramatically in the last few years. Gone are the days of being found in the in the Yellow Pages. (Probably many younger people don't even know what the Yellow Pages are!) There are still direct mail, newspaper ads (some of us DO still read them), billboards, television and radio to use for marketing. But the place that almost everybody finds their services and products is the Internet. How do you make sure you are considered?
I have a website, I'm set!
That might have been true "once upon a time," but not anymore. Not too long ago, competition on the Internet was not very intense. Today, it's rare to find an established business without a website. You now must keep your website content fresh, relevant and helpful!
There are many ways to keep your website fresh—updating your services, adding testimonials, adding to your portfolio to name a few. But a key activity that will help you grow your business and assist with getting you off the "hamster wheel" is through content creation and content marketing, and a good starting place is writing a blog. (It doesn't have to be called a blog. You might refer to it as resources, tips, help or anything else that might be appropriate for your business.)
Your website needs to be an active part of your business and marketing strategies. To "get off the hamster wheel" you need to look at your website as the center of your digital storefront or office. To meet the needs of your audience, updating and adding new content to your website is a must!
There are two groups that are interested in your content—people and machines!
People want your content—your clients, prospects, and anyone else that happens upon your site
The most important target for your content are the people that visit your website. That may sound like a no-brainer, but there are people that still believe they can put up a website and forget it, and others that think they can get good results from their website just by paying attention to the "mechanics" of their website—keywords, SEO, structure, etc. While those are still very important, the day has passed when you can "trick" the search engines to bring up your site without good, quality content.
The goal of the content you provide is to assist your website visitors. You might provide a "how-to" post or video to answer questions clients frequently ask, or provide information on new products, techniques or new directions in your industry, or changes happening within your business.
It is also important to publish new content on a regular schedule. Start by making a commitment to yourself. The more frequently you can post, the better. Knowing consistency is important, can you commit to one post a month? Once a quarter? Decide what you can really do, and make the commitment. And, don't beat yourself up if you miss something, just keep at it.
If you struggle with writing, consider whether it might be worthwhile to hire a writer or an editor to help you out.
So, why is content creation for your website important for your business?
- Your content helps position you as an expert in your field
Visitors to your website will better understand what your expertise is and begin to see you as a resource for them when they need your knowledge or services. - Content marketing helps to build trust with your brand
The content you provide will help your readers build trust in you and your brand. First, people know that the content is written by a person, so you are establishing a personal connection. Second, sharing your knowledge, with no strings attached, establishes you and your business as one who truly wishes to help. - Your content helps to build a relationship with your customers and prospects
Providing quality content that meets the needs of your audience is a good way to build a relationship. There will be people who read your content because they already know you. For these people, your writing may deepen their understanding of you and what you offer. There may also be others who have never met you, but find value in your writing. They may actually count you as an "online" friend or business associate that they've gotten to know only through your writing, but still consider that relationship important. When the time is right, they may enlist your services or refer you to others because they found your content valuable. - You can educate your leads and customers with your content
Content marketing gives you the opportunity to educate your audience on a much deeper level than you likely can at networking meetings or through advertising. You can go into as much depth as necessary and frequently introduce new concepts. - Your content can set you apart from your competition
The content you provide can help differentiate you from your competition. Right off the bat, if someone visits a competitor's site that doesn't contain any reviews, no portfolio, and no helpful articles, and then visits yours—guess who has the advantage?
Machines want your content—in particular, Google
Second to the people who are visiting your website is what the search engines, and the 500-ton monster in the room, Google, are looking for to rank your website.
Over the years, Google is getting better and better at understanding the content on your website. Your primary goal should be to write so that real people reading your post can understand it clearly. As well, you (and/or your website developer) should understand the technical aspects of what Google is looking for to rank your site. In recent years, other factors are as important, or maybe even more important:
- The freshness of your site
There are quite a few ways that Google determines the freshness of your site and content. This article, 10 Illustrations of How Fresh Content May Influence Google Rankings, goes into depth about the ways your site content can change and how Google interprets those changes. At the very end, the author wraps it up simply as "Be Fresh; Be Relevant; Most Importantly, Be Useful!" - The stickiness of your site
Another way Google determines the value of your site to visitors is how "sticky" it is, or how long visitors stay on your site and how many pages they view. It stands to reason that if you have more helpful articles on your site, visitors are more likely to "click around" looking for other valuable content. - Links to your content
External links from other websites to your website are powerful ranking indicators, primarily because these are very difficult to "fake." Creating quality content increases the likelihood of others wanting to link to your articles or posts. The better the rank of the site that links to you, the more valuable that link is.
Are you convinced that content creation and content marketing is important?
Hopefully, the information above is helping you see how important content creation and content marketing are. "But," you are thinking, "this is supposed to be about getting off the hamster wheel! All of this is a lot of work!"
Yes, it is! But a hamster wheel will get you nowhere. Taking this approach will get you results.
This is where the magic comes in. You not only have gained all the benefits above for your website, you now have good quality, PERSONAL content to use in both your email marketing and your social media posts. By taking the time to create this content once, you can now use it in other places—not only "killing THREE birds with one stone," but doing it with something of value for your customers and prospects. Additionally, you can generate your emails and social posting much more quickly, now that you have the content in hand.
Make sure your fans are first to be notified of your new content
You easily can send out an email providing links to your new post on your website. What does this accomplish? You keep in touch with and offer value to your customers and others who have expressed interest in your business. You are letting them know that you value them and want to help them and keep them in the loop. You are building that important relationship. Many small businesses ignore this valuable asset—their list of fans—because they haven't found an easy enough way to stay in contact. This is the answer!
You also are helping out with your ranking. If your content is providing value to the people on your email list, they will be clicking through to your website. Not only that, they may be staying there longer to read this post, and possibly will click around to view other content on the site. Google will see this as you providing value that people care about, thus helping your ranking.
Time to share on Social Media
Yup, we are suggesting that this is the last thing you do. We have a number of reasons:
- Social media seems to be the first thing that comes to mind. Yet, you can spend enormous amounts of time looking for content to post, trying to get engagement, trying to increase your followers—for how much return?
- Most social media is about prospecting. It is always more profitable to keep and grow the customers you have first, and then work at gaining new ones. One source indicated that it can cost as much as 5 times as much to gain a new client as to retain an existing one.
- Using this approach, you are sharing YOU and YOUR BUSINESS—your expertise, your tips—not someone else's content. People who follow you will understand your value much more than if you are sharing other content you find on the web.
All of these points can be argued (and some social media enthusiasts surely will). And, there are always exceptions. There is no arguing that some people have found tremendous value with social media. But, take a close look and those people are likely spending tremendous amounts of time there—AND posting a lot of their own content!
Much like you did with your email list, you will post a link to this new blog on the appropriate social media channels. If you feel that the content is strong, you may consider paying to boost the post on Facebook to spread it to a wider, targeted audience.
(Oh, and back to the hamster wheel, don't feel you need to use all the social media channels. Facebook is used by the majority of adults—69% according to a 2019 Pew Research study. It is surpassed slightly by YouTube at 73%. The next closest is Instagram at 37%, which, if you didn't know, is also owned by Facebook. Pinterest (28%) LinkedIn (27%) and Twitter (22%) may be valuable if your audience is on these platforms. However, if you can't wrap your head around all of this, I recommend going with Facebook.)
This activity will also drive people to your website, again, increasing the type of activity Google will reward you for in your search ranking.
But most importantly, you are creating valuable content and sharing it in a way that will provide real value to people, begin building relationships with new prospects and improve relationships with your customers. And when this activity leads to results and new business. you've effectively gotten off the hamster wheel!
You won't necessarily see rewards right away. You might, and that will be great. But, this is a more long-term approach. Think about the good relationships you have. How many started immediately? Generally, you need time to get to know each other and build trust. You also need consistent interactions with people over time to build this relationship. Your content marketing initiative is no different.
Commit to a regular schedule and see how content marketing can bring positive change to your business.
Do you have a question or suggestion for a future post? Leave it in the comments!