How To Write Great Website Content For Your Industry
Great content for your industry is more important than ever for your website to climb the ranks in Google’s search engine, to grow your business, to attract people for your business. And while it can seem painstaking to write out all that needed content for your own website, breaking down the process makes it manageable and much less time consuming.
1) Identify Your Audience and What They Want
Who is most apt to visit your website and just what is it they’re looking for? You can gather information to identify your target audience by looking for reader feedback and blog comments, setting up surveys, looking at reports or studies , or speaking with people at length.
Once you have your target audience identified, figure out what they want. Are they seeking specific information? What are their concerns? What questions are your audience always asking, that you would like them to know?
2) Find a Topic to Write On and Do Your Research
Take those commonly asked questions and concerns of your audience or better yet, combine them with keyword searches to find useful information for your content. From there do your research to become an expert if you are not already. And if you are? Dig a little deeper to get further insight into the topic.
It’s at this point you can take a look at what your competitors and associates are doing and learn what’s industry-standard if you have not already. While it may not make you stand out to do exactly what everyone else is doing, knowing what works in the industry and what does not can only benefit – even if you decide to break those rules later.
Internet readers like to be educated and like spending their time learning something of value, but tend to distrust a hard sale. Your website is more likely to maintain return readers and gain loyalty if the audience values your word as an expert, and feels that your website has something to come back to and share with social media.
3) Write for Your Audience
Use casual tone on the web for most industries, but don’t use excess jargon or slang unless it expressly gears toward your target audience. Keywords can be added to the content for SEO, but keep it organic and don’t force it.
Keep concise and organized in your writing, making sure to add headers and bullet points or lists to make text easily scanable. People on the internet do not expect to spend as much time reading as they would in print, so get to your point quickly to keep attention.
4) Create Content with a Call to Action
The internet is an active medium. People like to learn, share, interact, and feel like they’ve walked away from something more than passive information, so embrace this and give your readers something to do. Use active voice in your content and ultimately give readers a call to action, whether it be to interact with the website, call for an estimate, try out what they have learned on their own, or even click the ‘share’ button.
A static, unchanging website will fall by the wayside of active, continually updated sites no matter your industry, and Appletree Mediaworks LLC can work with you to create a dynamic website where creating and updating your own content is simple and takes little effort.
How to Promote Your Business With Viral Content
How to Promote Your Business With Viral Content
We see this happen all the time: an obscure or funny reference appears on a blog or Facebook post and suddenly it catches like wildfire, appearing anywhere from Facebook to Twitter to signature files in forums and the whole Internet over. These are the things that marketing dreams are made of. But is it possible to harness the quirky and seemingly random nature of the Internet and social media?
This has been an immense topic of study, and the experts on viral marketing say yes, this powerful marketing opportunity can be harnessed. Content can be designed to go viral when we keep a few simple rules and tips in mind.
Shareable vs. Likeable
When you are creating content for your viral marketing campaign, keep in mind the difference between “likeable” and “shareable” ideas. If your goal is to go viral, try to focus your efforts on creating shareable content. People may like or agree with your content, but simultaneously feel apprehensive about endorsing (sharing) it with others. Highly shareable posts, on the other hand, are those which affects or engages your audience while offering something universal. A shareable post might be inspirational, funny, amazing, or practical. People share content because they think it will be useful, helpful, or somehow raise their social standing.
Understand Your Brand and Know Your Audience
While creating the content you wish to go viral, it’s good to know what your angle is. What image do you want the business and brand to convey? Are you looking for something edgy or trustworthy? What is the target audience you are catering to? Playing it safe may not earn your content shares, but being too edgy or focusing on the wrong niche topic for your audience can result in missed opportunities.
Triggers
Studies have shown that people are most responsive to specific “triggers of fascination” and are most likely to share something if it raises a high level of emotion. The more excited someone is about content, the more likely they are to pass it along.
Examples of these triggers include: passion/lust, alarm, power, prestige, rebellion, or trust. When content hits on one of these triggers, especially for the appropriate audience, the content has a much higher chance of going viral.
Basic Rules for Going Viral
– Positive content is more apt to go viral than negative, though this is not universal and depends on whether or not it resonates with the reader.
– Positive shareable content is often surprising, amusing, or awe-inspiring.
– Negative shareable content is most often that which evokes anger or anxiety.
– People like to share for several reasons: to improve their social standing among other readers, to help others, and to appear useful or knowledgeable.
Creating viral content is almost as much an art as it is a science, but clarifying your target audience and focus, giving your content emotional appeal, and keeping the fascination level high enough that people would like to share it with their friends and associates is a means to take out some of the guesswork and randomness regarding viral content. Here at Appletree MediaWorks, we pay close attention to your audience and goals to make sure your content triggers interest in your customers.
