Sharon's Marketing Monthly      

Insightful ideas for maximizing your message

Add content, get found

If your company has any kind of Web site, you've no doubt spent at least a little time thinking about search engines and how you can increase your chances of being found by one. True search engine optimization (SEO) is a real science and requires sound structure, the right tags, good design, exhaustive keyword research, technical savvy, constant monitoring, rich content and more--but there's one easy way to improve your chances of that Web site being found online: Add to it.

More words without more work
Of course you should already be regularly updating your content as a matter of good site maintenance. But if you keep adding to your content, you're not only adding fresh information that's of value to your visitors; you're improving your SEO too. My friend Ian at Portent Interactive once said his ideal client adds a page a day to a site. Now that's extreme, but hey! He said ideal.

A page a day would be a lot of work, but here are six ways you can easily and regularly add relevant content to your site without that much effort:

• Add a press room for your press releases. You don't even have to submit these press releases to the media. Just write them and post them.

• Publish an e-newsletter and archive each issue on your site. (I finally got our archive section up, although there's not much there yet!)

• Post articles you or your employees have written, even if they've never been published. (My e-newsletter best practices article was rejected by a magazine, but still found a happy home on our Web site.) One caveat: If an article has been published elsewhere online, do a rewrite so it's not an exact match. Search engines hate duplication.

• Write success stories or case studies. They can be as short as a paragraph or as long as a page. Whatever works for you without being a burden.

• Write book reviews relevant to your target market. Again, these can be short. You want something that's doable, not daunting.

• Include more information on specific products or services. If you've created sales sheets or brochures, rewrite them to work online. (Don't just stick your pdfs on your site!)

Although keywords do matter when writing for the Web, don't sweat them for the most part. If you're adding content that's relevant to your audience, it will have the words they're searching with.

So, got your own ideas yet?
These are all generic ideas, but I hope there are loads of creative ones now buzzing around in your head: recipes for restaurants, health tips for health care, how-to's for complex products... If not, ask me for ideas. I love a chance to get the creative juices flowing!

Until next month!

Sharon

This month's challenge

Choose one easy way to add content to your Web site on a regular basis, whether monthly, weekly, or--if you want to make Ian's heart beat faster--daily. Then create a schedule for it and make it so.

Recommended read for February

Since we're (sort of) on the topic of writing for Web sites, I highly recommend "Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy" by Nick Usborne. It's a book you'll turn to again and again when writing, updating or adding content to your site.

(Have a marketing book you love? Feel free to recommend your favorites.)

Who is Sharon?

Sharon is the president of We Know Words, a sustainable marketing communications firm helping you connect with your past, present and potential customers. Being a woman of many opinions and words, she writes the Marketing Monthly as a way to have her say. Besides, she loves newsletters. Email her with any comments about this newsletter or marketing in general.

What's up with the flower?

It's just us. Fresh, flourishing, cheerful...and it ties into our job: Helping clients grow their businesses through an effective mix of off- and on-line marketing. Besides, it's fun! Have you seen it plastered all over our Web site?