When you're building a content marketing strategy, you'll hear a lot of opinions. We spend so much time online everyday, we've all developed our own personal preferences for website content and navigation. That can mean that two different judges will have two very different opinions on the quality of your website content. So who do you listen to?
Recent studies found that a lot of marketers are unhappy with their brand's website. Thirty-Nine percent feel that their competitor's website is better, while 20% say their website doesn't represent your brand. These opinions suggest that a big portion of businesses need to change their website. But before you go searching for web designers, there are 5 judges of your website who will dictate the success of your content marketing. You should go to them first, and in order.
1. Google (Other Search Engines are available)
Nearly 70% of web searches occur on Google. It's a bi-word for online search, so much so that people forget that other search engines exist. The most important judge of your website and content marketing success is also the channel that will create your traffic.
Making your website appealing to Google is the biggest challenge for your marketing department. Basic SEO rules require your website be filled with quality content, have good quality inbound and outbound links and be regularly updated. The success of your content marketing will rely heavily on your ability to push the site towards the top of Google results
2. Social Media Users
Social media has become an integral part of most people's every day life. It's also becoming an increasingly important factor in search results. The more your content is shared on social media, the more trustworthy you appear to Google. Which gives social media dual importance.
As well as it's value for SEO; social media shares are a great source of traffic. Your content marketing efforts should focus on shareable social media content. That means blogs, Infographics, video and any other content that your target market are likely to share.
3. Your Target Market
Which brings us to the people who really decide on your success, your potential customers. No matter what anyone else thinks of your website, if the people who want your product like it you'll be successful. It's important to track activity on your site and identify the most successful content. The content that regularly generates leads will always be the most important.
4. Mobile Browsers
The biggest emerging online trend of the last two years has been the increase in the use of mobile browsers. Particularly if you're in the B2B sector, the majority of your prospects use smartphones to browse the web every day. In order for your content marketing to access these prospects, your website has to work with mobile browsers. That may mean building a separate mobile site or building a 'responsive website' that adapts to different browser types.
It's not impossible to be successful without a mobile compatible website, but it's becoming more difficult. And you will miss out on the leads who find your site through social media only to discover it's difficult to navigate on a tablet or smartphone.
5. Your Staff
In the same survey that inspired this post, 36% of people stated that they wouldn't work for a company with a poor web presence. When you add that to the other figures in the survey, it's clear staff place a lot of importance on their employer's website. Your staff can often be your most powerful promoters because they promote your brand with the knowledge of how the business works. When you're assessing your web presence and the success of your website content marketing, it can be helpful to gather staff opinion.
The most successful website content marketing strategies will please all five of these judges. They are the most important opinions. Just remember to please Google first and work your way down.