Stacey Sansom Designs - Trade Show Thursday

Improving Your Brand Online: Create your content

The saying goes “Content is king!” So all that you have to do now that you have a blog setup and your website built is create fresh content, right? Not so fast.

You can create all the content you want, but if it is not relevant you can forget it. If it is not useful, no matter how relevant it is you can also forget it. Oh and while we are at it, if it is not engaging – just forget it.

If you remember from last week’s post, I mentioned that you needed to “plan your blog posts” or something to that effect. I was not joking or typing to see the words appear on the screen. I meant it. If you want to increase readers, you need to take it seriously.

Know your target audience

An important part of planning is knowing and understanding who the target audience is. Your audience may not be who you think they are. You may intend to target one user demographics and your actual users might be from another. The content you present needs to be in sync with with your current audience as well as geared toward attracting new users.

It is important to understand that content comes in a variety of formats. Some of these are more attractive to certain demographics. Some are simply more inviting and effective on certain media platforms. How do you find out what is working and where? You can determine a lot from you website traffic – where it is going, where it is coming from, what it does while it is on your website. This will give you a broad idea of what is being viewed at least from the ground level.

The easiest way to find out what your users are interested in, you should ask them. Include like and share buttons on your content. Do not be afraid of polls. Simple and nonintrusive one or two question polls strategically placed on your website can provide direct feedback from your users.

How do I come up with my initial content?

Having polls and like or share buttons are all well and good if you have existing content, but what if you are just starting your website or blog? You need to create some basic ground level of content to build your user base with. You cannot create a following without something to follow. How do you go about this?

Very simply, you start by answering a few questions about your users. Keep your target audience in mind.

Remember the blog and website are not about you, they are all about your users. They are intended to give them what they want and need, not what you need and want. This is not to stroke your ego because you joined the 21st century and started blogging and built a website. It is to fulfill their need so that you can stroke your ego when your sales increase. Got it? Good.

What questions? Start here:

  • What information do your customers need?
  • What questions are customers asking?
  • What topics are hot topics in your industry?
  • What length of posts will work with your customers?
  • Will videos work best for your customers because they are looking for how-tos?
  • How can you help your customers?

This list is not all inclusive. They are suggestions to get you thinking.

Do not write informational pages for your website or blog posts just to write. Write with purpose. Answer your customer questions. Provide them with “help” in any way possible.

 

 

Go forth, plan, and create your content.

 

 

See also: Have a brand, Start your blog or website, Create your content, Making Social Media Work, Making social media efforts matter, Share!, Email marketing, More on content, Give something away, Online marketing is not a one time deal.

 

Improving Your Brand Online: Create your content
Tagged on:     

Comments are closed.