Mark Teague
By: Mark Teague – Bayshore Solutions Digital Marketer
How do you set your content apart from others sharing similar ideas and get noticed by the search engines? As the search engines try to become more “human” in their crawling of sites and diagnosis of web presence, the information that actual humans consume online become increasingly important. Google’s Hummingbird update with a nod to “Siri-spoken” search queries was one of the first steps in achieving this. It’s likely that the next 10 steps are devoted to marketing’s favorite buzzword, Content.
If you’re actively attempting to grow your web presence, you probably can’t escape it. “Content, content, content.” You know that you should be creating original and relevant content, but aren’t sure where to start, or more importantly, what to create. Whether your goals are to influence others through thought leadership, rank higher on the search engines, or simply sell more, the following content ideas will immediately improve on your efforts. They include but are not limited to:
Blog
As dated as it may seem, a consistently updated and relevant blog will continue to be great content for any business with a web presence. With the right strategy and attention to your audience, blog content will be keyword rich, SEO friendly and shareable. Industry specific blogs are a good example of how thought leaders and influencers emerge in their respective fields. Other benefits include an increase in brand awareness, web traffic, and it’s not a bad way to build some quality links back you your site, either. Readership traction based on your expertise is a strangely powerful thing.
Video
There can’t be enough said for the rapidly growing opportunity of video content. You’ve probably ventured across one of those neat explainer videos with cool text and animation (kinetic typography). If not, your Aunt is definitely sharing cat videos and the toughest friend you know just shared a story that just made him cry on Sportscenter. He’ll likely blame it on allergy season. The point is people share videos. But I digress…If you or your company hasn’t focused on a video content strategy relevant to your industry and website, you’re falling behind. Some proof:
- According to Unbounce, animated explainer videos increase conversion rates by 20%.
- 188.2 million people in the US watched 52.4 billion online content videos in December 2013. The average American spent more than 19 hours watching online video. (Comscore, 2013)
- Over half of 25-54 year olds share video online. (EMarketer, 2013)
- Nearly 52% of Marketers cite video as the type of content with the best ROI (Emarketer, 2013)
Infographics
Another piece of content flooding the internet are infographics. A visual, reader-friendly and usually data-driven representation of a specific message. They are proven to be extremely effective in revealing different levels of information and encouraging the eyes to compare several sets of copy or data. Rather than always subjecting your audience to death-by-copy, create something visually stunning that has an opportunity to be shared. The photo-friendly world of Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest have proven that sometimes the best message is a photo message.
Slideshare.net
In a corporate world desperately trying to sift through slideshows, pdfs, and presentation material, Slideshare.net allows you to take that and easily transfer it into shareable content. Add Calls-to-Action and demonstrate your expertise. Instead of incurring large production costs that may come with some video efforts, Slideshare is a cost efficient way of boosting your content portfolio.
You may have an idea in mind for one or all of these content marketing initiatives. At Bayshore Solutions, we specialize in story and excel in content creation. Contact us to get started on your 2014 content strategy!
Mark Teague is a Digital Marketer at Bayshore Solutions—a Web Design, Web Development, and Digital Marketing Company.