Content Marketing: It's not enough to publish

Our friend Kathleen Gage, the Street Smarts Marketer, did a good job of answering an email from a client who questions the value of writing articles and submitting them to online article directories.

The person asks a question which many new to Web marketing wonder even if they don't actually ask it: "I personally don't know anyone who has gotten increased business from this tactic and none of my clients have either. Who is getting more business from this and what are they doing differently?"

This same question has cousins: "I'm not making any money from my blog/newsletter/website."

Kathleen turned this question into a great blog post entitled Maybe making money on and with the Internet is an out and out lie!

Here are Kathleen's 8 key points you need to think about besides just writing content:

1. How well written is the article and is it specific to a market?
2. Do you have a title that grabs people’s attention?
3. Do you have a resource box at the end of the article?
4. Is there a compelling offer you are making in the resource box that would encourage the reader to visit your website, blog or a landing page?

5. Is your website set up to optimize those people who will visit your website with a visible opt-in opportunity that is of high value to the visitor?
6. What is your follow up plan to market to the people who visited your site and opted into your database?
7. Are you creating high value to those who receive messages from you?
8. Are you a resource before you are a vendor?

It's not enough to just write and publish. Anybody can do that...and they do. Article directories are full of junk. More importantly, they are full of ineffective junk that miss vital elements of marketing as listed above.

The process of article writing and distribution is a tool for credibility and positioning. So is blog posting. And newsletter publishing. But if you don't have these 8 critical elements in place, well, you are writing to the wind.  And you probably won't make money.

Comments

[Beyond Niche Marketing]

I've heard this lament often in my practice working with solo entrepreneurs as well.

Getting a thousand visitors to your blog or web site in one day is truly an outstanding feat. However, if you don't have a sound business model in place, then you won't have a way to convert those visitors into customers/clients.

The answer, as you have pointed out, is NOT writing hundreds of crappy articles (or blog posts/comments). The answer is writing (or hiring a writer who can produce) top quality, tightly targeted content that positions you as an expert and lets potential clients know you can do what you say you can do.