Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've heard it before: 'Content is king.' By now it's probably been beaten into your head.
Still, in our top inbound marketing article of the past week, John Janstch emphasizes two important points about why content creation is such an essential strategy for businesses.
1. Content as an Essential Strategy
Author: John Jantsch on Duct Tape Marketing Blog
So what two important points is John stressing in regard to content? Because your prospective customers are constantly seeking information about your company, your business must produce content that is educational and builds trust. Furthermore, content that educates and builds trust should be an essential part of all businesses' marketing strategies.
Jantsch's article proceeds to provide various examples of content that builds trust (e.g. blog, social media, testimonials, reviews) and content that educates (e.g. white papers, seminars, FAQs, success stories).
Marketing Takeaway: Give your prospects what they're looking for by providing educational and trust-building content.
2. 5 Things I've Learned About Blogging After 6 Years
Author: Rohit Bhargava on Influential Marketing Blog
In Rohit's article, he takes a step back to evaluate the past 6 years of his blogging career, analyzing his personal struggle to consistently create content and keep his blog fresh. He offers some useful advice to fellow bloggers who deal with the same struggle, sharing a few tips he's learned for continuously creating great content:
- Keep an archive of ideas.
- Half-write posts and always title them.
- Always include links and always try to click them.
- Think creatively about your content.
- Create your own set of rules for what works.
Marketing Takeaway: Do whatever works best for you when it comes to generating blog ideas consistently.
3. 3 Reasons Not to Run Conversion Tests
Author: Sandra Niehaus on Search Engine Land
There's no doubt about it: Testing is an important part of marketing, and analyzing how programs are performing is a great way to improve the overall success of your marketing. However, this Search Engine Land article challenges the assumption that you should always be testing, listing three scenarios when it's okay to skip the test:
- The current visual [website] design is hopeless.
- You can't make the indicated changes for improvement.
- There's only one person on the test team: you.
Marketing Takeaway: Testing is definitely important, but it might not always be appropriate.
4. Link Building for SEO Beginners
Author: Kevin Gibbons on Econsultancy Blog
Are you a beginner in the SEO world and wonder what all the hubbub is about inbound links? Kevin Gibbons provides a helpful overview that explains why link building is such a critical influencer in SEO and highlights his top tips for SEO novices attempting to generate some link juice.
Some of Kevin's tips include avoiding link farms, creating valuable pages, being interesting, making industry friends, using the right anchor text, and making the most of your position.
Marketing Takeaway: Inbound links are a powerful variable when it comes to ranking in search engines. Start building strong inbound links to your business' website today!
5. How 4 Small Businesses are Using Location-Based Services
Author: Erica Swallow on Mashable
With all the hype about the trend in location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla, it's easy to wonder how other small businesses are taking advantage of them in marketing. In this Mashable article, Erica Swallow highlights how four small businesses are using location-based services.
The article addresses how each business got involved in using location-based services, what they each view as pros (and downsides) of using them, what they perceive as the value, how each promotes its presence, and what advice they would give other small businesses getting started.
Marketing Takeaway: Look to other businesses for examples of how to get going with location-based services, then apply what you've learned to your own business.
Photo Credit: Peter Robinett