Writing about Life in the digital age

Content marketing can be very effective in increasing traffic, generating leads, enabling sales – and contributing to SEO. So how can businesses use it to improve their search rankings?

When done well, content marketing can contribute to boosting a site’s position in search rankings.R

Although this may not seem like the most obvious benefit to a successful content marketing strategy, it’s an effect that no business can ignore.

Here’s how to take advantage of your site’s content to rank higher in the SERPs.

Via Jeff Domansky

Done the right way, written content can turn a company from one of many competitors into an industry thought leader and help businesses flourish.

Why any company should strive to become a thought leader

Thought leadership is more than simply a marketing buzzword. If a company establishes itself as a thought leader in their respective field, it turns from a business into an experienced and competent expert and a trustworthy source of information and guidance. This doesn’t only increase a brand’s visibility and traffic – it also increases the likelihood that customers will feel like they can rely on the company when it comes to making a purchasing decision. But to become thought leaders, brands have to do more than simply produce regular content that shows their interest in their specific field. Rather, they have to provide the audience with a compelling, informed, and original point of view. Any potential customer will have plenty of questions on their mind. A good thought leader anticipates those questions and answers them expertly, even before they are raised.

Thought leadership can never be a marketing strategy in itself, but is merely the intended outcome of any resourceful and creative content strategy....

Via Jeff Domansky

In this week’s episode, Robert and I discuss a contrarian article that claims content marketing is a meaningless buzzword. Its author also counsels marketers to ignore the continuing evolution of marketing, which is flat-out bad advice. A companion article reminds us that we ought to focus on the needs of our customers, not on writing to justify the practice of content marketing to our peers. Next, we ponder the emergence of a new position at large publishers, the e-commerce editor, and explain how it fits into the evolution of media business models. Finally, we interpret BuzzFeed’s disastrous last quarter. Does it point to fundamental problems at the huge online publisher or simply a market correction for an over-valued company? Rants and raves include Dan Lyons’ tell-all tale about BuzzFeed and a must-read HBR article about the end of solution sales. This week’s This Old Marketing example: Ripley’s Believe It or Not....
Via Jeff Domansky