If you haven’t realized that you need to update your website, you should probably rearrange your priorities.
Updating your website can be equated to refilling the cookie jar. No one wants to stick their hand into a jar and come up empty handed.
The same can be said for the content on your website. You want your audiences to get something out it, find it helpful every time they come back.
But I get it, sometimes it's not easy to generate fresh content. Updating your website regularly can be a pain but if you want to increase your SEO, you have to create new content. Generating new content not only makes you a better marketer but keeps your audience coming back.
This post may just be the answer to your prayers.
Make Content Marketing Work
Here’s a how-to to make the most of your content.
- You must fill a need: Like you, your customers have wants and needs. Create content that addresses that. Don’t put your readers to sleep with dreadfully boring content. Add content that’s helpful in some way.
- You must be consistent: The key to success is consistency, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Imagine you're ready to watch your favorite show only to find out it aired at a different time. And spoiler alert, your Twitter newsfeed already gave away the ending. Be consistent with your content.
- You must be human: You are creating content for humans, not robots. No one wants to read something that was written for SEO. Figure out what you want your brand’s voice to be and stick to it.
- You must have a point of view: It's okay to take a stance on something. This is about your product or services so make your business the expert.
- You must avoid "sales speak": We all love to talk about ourselves. Unfortunately customers don't want to hear about you. So try to create content, less about you and more about the needs and wants of your customers. Remember: be helpful.
- You must be the best in your industry: Whatever your content niche may be, distribute the best of what's available.
Increase Your Search Engine Optimization
In order to keep your website relevant, you need to understand SEO. Understanding SEO can cause extreme nail biting and hair pulling so I’ll simplify it. If you want to increase your SEO you need to update your website!
Google's most recent algorithm updates, Panda and Penguin put more focus on content sharing and updating content regularly. To be found in search engines you need to have strong content marketer. Google's algorithm determines which websites are fresh and up-to-date.
Current and potential customers don't want to read outdated information, if the content isn't relevant chances are they’ll go somewhere else. Just to reiterate, you are writing for people, not robots. Use humor or sarcasm. Make your audience feel like they would want to hangout with you on a Friday night because your content represents you and your values.
If you update your content you’ll build trust, which is a really successful marketing tactic.
Become A Better Marketer
If you want to become a better marketer, find out what your customer wants from your business.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, do you really want to be on the phone all day with customer service to ask a simple question? I’m going to generalize and say the answer is no. Make your website a place people want to go. Add content that educates and informs your customers on products and services. Create and share things like eBooks, white papers, video tutorials, blogs, etc.
Making your website a resource can be the difference between a visitor and an actual customer. Once you make your site helpful your customers and leads are going to ask better questions, that you can use as content for your site.
Your sales team is going to love you because by answering questions on your site, they won’t spend as much time answering common sales questions on the phone or in their inbox. Customers will know what to expect from your business and your sales team will get less pushback (gold star for you).
Your website is your digital identity. It shows people who you are and what your company’s mission is. Make customers feel less like customers and more like family. By creating that strong relationship you’ll take an important role in your customer’s lives. Less time maintaining customer relations gives you more time to schmooze with potential leads.
Keep Your Content Fresh
“Quality over quantity” from this moment on needs to be engrained into your head. Content should be worth updating, don’t add useless content for the sake of having more. Think of problems or questions your audience persona has.
Use those answers and information as inspiration for creating fresh content. Try adding call-to-action buttons that will transport your customer to a magical land, also known as a landing page. Utilize that page for customers to express questions, thoughts or ideas that can benefit your business.
Now that you have an idea of what content to add, make it interesting! Strive to hold attention not grab it. Of course we all want to be flashy with the coolest car but when push comes to shove most are going to pick the more dependable car. Try to keep that in mind, put focus on content skills.
Make your website an experience that people enjoy and want come back to. Your audience wants a unique experience that they can't get anywhere else in cyberspace.
Considering the title, I hope I have made it crystal clear that your website needs to be updated regularly. Make it a priority and don’t think of it as a chore. If you think of it as a tedious, redundant process instead of a fun, exciting way to improve your user's experience.
Keep Your Target Audience Coming Back
If you are still reading this, you have made it the end. Congrats to you! Hopefully by now you understand ways to keep your audience coming back for more killer content.
- Update your content: Blogging can be a really awesome way to update your content on a daily basis. Blogs are a great way to educate and inform customers and make them want to come back to your site.
- Create interaction: Try adding interaction to your site by creating a forum of some sort. This is a good way for direct communication between your customers.
- Have links to social media: If you don’t have social media for your business, after finishing this post I suggest making some accounts. It can be as simple as a Facebook or Twitter page. Social media is a huge factor in successful content marketing. Having a strong presence on social media lets your audience find you in more places on the internet.
How are you updating your website to keep your groupies coming back? Tell us in the comments below.