Let’s talk about content creation. I’m sure you’ve heard that term thrown around in the past few years. It simply means that you share your knowledge and expertise – usually in the form of written content like blog posts and articles. The end goal is to attract a new audience and to build a closer relationship with your existing readers.
Through your writing, you get to show that you know your stuff. Your content positions you as the expert. It also allows potential customers and clients to find you. The days of opening the yellow pages or the classified section of your newspaper when you needed something are gone. Instead we turn to Google to find the help we need. And Google happens to love content.
That’s one of the big reasons why content creation is something you need to be working on. Without it you’re missing out on a huge chunk of your target market. But it goes deeper than that. As consumers we expect content on a company’s website. Even if your visitors find you via paid advertising or the recommendation of a friend, the first thing they’ll do is check you out online.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a restaurant, a body shop, a financial adviser or an online baseball memorabilia seller. If you don’t have a strong web presence, you’re losing out on sales. This is particularly true if you’re selling online.
We have to know, like and trust someone before we buy from them. In the real world, you can do this on a personal level. You can talk to your clients across the counter. Online you do it through your blog, your articles and your emails. And guess what… all those things are content that you should be creating on a regular basis.
Take a look at your website right now. Try to look at it from a consumer’s point of view. lf you were your own best customer, what information would you like to see on there? If you’re passionate about what you do, or even if it’s just something you’ve done for a while, you have stories to share. Storytelling is a great way to share content. Start writing them down and publish them here and there.
Another quick way of creating content is to collect the questions your customers and prospects ask you. Take the question and your answer and publish them. Keep the question anonymous, or ask your customer if it is ok to share their name. Since you’re already answering the question – possibly by email, it shouldn’t take you long to write it up.
Get that content out there and see if it doesn’t get you more visitors and most importantly more business.