CONTENT MARKETING ROOKIE THE ONLINE BUSINESS OWNERS BLUEPRINT FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS
The Online Business Owner’s Blueprint For Long-Term Success
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Table Of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................4-5
Why is Content An Important Part of Your Marketing Strategy?..5-11 ........
Who Are You?......................................................................6-7 Are You For Real?.................................................................7-8 Pick Me...............................................................................8 Do I Remember You?............................................................8-9 Where Do I Go? I’m Lost.......................................................9-10
Can I Really Trust You?.........................................................10-11 Content That Holds the Power You Should Be Harnessing...........11-15 Articles................................................................................11-12
E-Books..............................................................................12-13 Reports...............................................................................13 Website Content...................................................................14 Blogs..................................................................................14 Newsletters..........................................................................15
Creating Compelling Content that Achieves Marketing Success...15-28 Articles................................................................................16-19 E-Books..............................................................................19-21 Reports...............................................................................21-24 Website...............................................................................24-25 Blogs..................................................................................25-26 Newsletters..........................................................................26-28
Where To Market Your Content...................................................28-32 Article Directories.................................................................29-30 Blogrolls..............................................................................30 Social Media Sites or Micro-Blogs............................................30-31 Use Squeeze Pages for Newsletter Sign-ups.............................31 Message Boards and Forums..................................................31-32 Affiliates..............................................................................32
Final Thoughts............................................................................33
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Introduction
Are you frustrated because you’re still not making the kind of money
you would like to – even after you’ve spent hundreds of dollars and
countless hours marketing your business the way everyone else told
you to?
You’re not alone!
We’ve all wasted time and money on things that don’t work. In fact,
statistics show that the average new Internet marketer will lose $1500
to $2500 during the first year of business on worthless products and
programs.
I’m not going to lie and tell you that you don’t have to spend money to
get your business off the ground and keep it going, because you do,
but once you’re up and running it shouldn’t be costing you money.
Now I’m not talking about your everyday business expenses. You do
have to fork out money for website hosting, a shopping cart service,
autoresponder account, and things like that. But when you start
spending more money than you make driving traffic to your website,
you need step back and take a serious look at your current marketing
strategies.
So isn’t it time to leave behind those high ticket products and old-
fashioned advertising methods and learn the real deal to building a
solid, long-term business?
Because that’s what you want don’t you? A business with a foundation
meant for longevity and growth.
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Of course it is. And that’s what this guide is all about. I won’t be
sharing some overnight success secret, or telling you how to skip all
the bull and go right to the finish line.
But what this guide does give you; is insight into one of the most
effective and valuable marketing techniques available to you – and it
doesn’t have to cost you a dime. Honest!
So what am I talking about?
Content marketing. Yup, you’ve probably heard about it. But what is it
really?
Well, basically, it’s a way to gain exposure for your business by
creating high quality content and distributing it on the Internet. As a
direct result, your market finds you and your products or services with
minimal time and effort on your part to make it happen.
Why Is Content An Important Part Of Your Marketing Strategy?
Content is and should always be the driving force behind your
business. Essentially, it’s what directs traffic to you – meaning, you
don’t have to go out and hunt down customers; instead they come to
you.
If you’ve been online for any amount of time, you’ve likely heard that
“Content is King”, a phrase that is especially true when it comes to
marketing your business.
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Why?
Because there’s nothing else available that even remotely comes close
to bringing you the kind of benefits content does.
Think about it…
Our society is saturated with technology and the gadgets they’ve
produced, and consequently, we’ve become accustomed to getting
what we want, when we want it.
So it’s not surprising that the Internet has become one of the world’s
most valuable resources, simply because it’s always there when we
need – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We can hop online and in a
matter of minutes find information on just about anything we want to
know.
And where does that information come from?
You got it - content.
See, by producing content and getting it into the hands of all those
information seekers, they will find their way to your website. And that
means you don’t have to go out and find them, because your content
does all the work for you – even while you’re sleeping.
Okay, so now that you understand why content is so important, let’s
take a look at how it directly benefits your business:
Who Are You?
People in your hometown know who you are as well as your friends
and family members. These people know if you’re trustworthy or if you
have your head on straight to make a go of your business.
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That’s great, but the people that will be purchasing your products or
hiring you for your services don’t know you at all. When they don’t
know you, how are they supposed to feel confident that you are the
person they can trust when they need to buy a certain item?
Content enables them to get to know you. The Internet is a wondrous
thing, but it doesn’t give you the ability to meet and assist your
customers in person. Which means it’s much more difficult to gain
customer trust quickly online as opposed to a brick and mortar store.
This is where content comes in.
Your customers will get to know you through the content you produce
and distribute online. They’ll be able to see first hand if you know what
you’re talking about when it comes your particular niche, and they’ll
likely be making the decision about whether or not you can be trusted
when it comes time to hand over their hard earned money. Content
allows you to create yourself as the “go-to” person in your niche and
people will begin to associate you with a particular product or service
when they’re in need.
Are You For Real?
Besides the great things that the Internet gives you, it’s also a hotbed
of scammers and spammers. As a result, people have become
incredibly wary about offers they see browsing online. There are far
too many people touting their products as high-quality, and then they
simply don’t deliver.
Another common problem is that too many people claim that miracles
will happen if they buy a certain product, and so consumers who’ve
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bought into it; anxiously await for the amazing results they’ll get, only
to be disappointed when it never comes to fruit
Unfortunately, those people have made it that much more difficult for
the legitimate business folks. Consumers have become hardened to all
claims, valid or not, and getting them to feel confident about
purchasing from can be tough to do.
Content will help soften them towards you simply because you’re
showing them that you’re not a scammer, but a genuine expert.
Pick Me!
You may have gotten some exposure for your business, but there’s still
one problem you’ll have to overcome, and that’s that you are not the
only one person selling products or services in your niche market.
You are competing against several other business owners who are all
vying for the attention of your niche market. So, you will need to find
a way to stand out and show potential customers that you’re the go to
business.
This is how content will be key for your business. You need to provide
your target market with information that your competitors aren’t
giving them. High quality content about the chosen niche helps get
you ahead as an expert in that particular field.
Do I Remember You?
How many times have you visited a website and left never to visit
again? You may have liked the site, but you don’t remember how to
get back there or you may have even forgotten that the website ever
existed.
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Regardless of the reason, we may not visit the same website again the
fact remains that everyday internet users view tons of websites. That
means when it comes time for internet users to make a purchase your
businesses website is likely the furthest thing from their mind and thus
they will not be visiting your website again. In order to get them to
visit your website again, they need to remember that you exist.
Visiting a site only one time is not going to keep you in the forefront of
your prospects minds. Therefore, you’re going to sneak into their
minds, so they’ll remember you when they’re looking for the items
you’re offering. Your website needs to be memorable to keep them
coming back for me. You need to give your visitors what they are
looking for, information. Content is what is going to make your site
memorable, give your visitors what they crave and keep your business
website in the forefront of your prospects mind.
The more information (content) they see from your business, the more
they start to remember your business name. Instead of Do I
remember you?; they will be saying “Oh yeah, I remember you. You’re
the company that sells the products I’m looking for!”
Where Do I Go? I’m Lost.
Internet surfers are searching for information on a particular topic. You
have the information they need on your website. That’s great, but
these internet surfers need to be able to find your website in order to
see what you have to offer.
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Sometimes, you may have to go where these people are in order to
help them find their way to your site. Having great content on your
site is key, but it’s not enough. You have to expand and get your
content out there, in more than one place in order to increase the
chances of these potential internet surfers to find your great website.
You need to get your high quality content out on the world wide web
so that people can find you. This will help the internet user to see the
high quality content that you are offering as well as establish you as
an expert on the particular subject. Of course, you will have a link in
the content that you are putting out on the web so that the visitor can
easily find your website.
Can I Really Trust You?
This is the big one. If you want your website visitors to buy anything
from you than you are going to need to have their trust. The Internet
has seen its share of successful business owners as well as its
scammers.
These scammers will have your prospects giving the unknown business
owners the suspicious eye. No one, yourself included; wants to hand
over their hard-earned money to anyone and everyone.
People want to be rest assured that the person that’s about to receive
their business isn’t someone who’s going to take them to the cleaners.
After all, nobody wants to throw their money into the fire and watch it
burn.
Since they don’t want to get taken, they will be extra cautious with
who they do business with. That means that until you get into their
trusted people list; you are going to have a tough time selling them
your products.
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The quickest and easiest way to start establishing some trust with your
prospects is through your content. The content you create and publish
on the web will help your prospects see what kind of person you are.
They see if you know your stuff or if you can deliver what you claim
your business will deliver. When you have great content, this will help
them see that.
There are numerous benefits content marketing brings your business.
We have just touched on a few benefits of the benefits of content
marketing here to help you realize how important content is in your
marketing strategy. Now it’s time to move on, so you can discover
how to create this great content that is going to help you reap all
those business benefits.
Content That Holds the Power You Should be Harnessing
By now, you should be able to see the vast benefits that content
marketing can bring to your business plan. What you need now is the
what and the how to move forward with your marketing plan. First,
let’s explore the different types of content that will bring you the best
results.
Articles
One of the first things that should be included in your business-
marketing plan is high quality, informative articles. These articles are
what your target market is looking for. Articles give your niche
audience a taste of what you know, leaving them wanting more.
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Just like fishermen use bait on their hooks to catch fish you will use
articles to catch visitors. The bait they use depends on what kind of
fish they’re looking to catch on that day. The fish they want to catch
are looking for certain types of morsels to nibble on, so the fisherman
provides them with that taste.
When the fish takes a bite of the bait, the fisherman sets the hook and
reels in the fish to the fisherman’s hands. Without the bait, the fish
never would have jumped onto the boat and into the waiting
fisherman’s hands. Well, maybe on an extreme rare occasion, but for
the most part, the fisherman has to work hard to get the fish to come.
Articles are pretty much your bait. You plant your articles in various
spots throughout the Internet to tempt Internet surfers to find them.
Once they find them, they view the article to see what information
you’re baiting them with.
If the content is good, then you set the hook with your website link
that’s provided within the article, and they get reeled into your website
where you can then sell them on your products or services.
E-Books
E-Books are books in digital form. They’re books that can be viewed on
a computer screen. These types of books are popular for Internet
users, because they can learn extended information about a topic by
purchasing or downloading for free an eBook without having to drive to
a store or wait for a print book to arrive in the mail.
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E-Books are a great way to show off your knowledge on a particular
subject. It helps to define you as an expert on the topic of your book.
This placement enables your potential customer to view you as a
person who knows their stuff well, making you the perfect person to
buy additional products from.
One of the great things about creating an e-Book is that it is very
inexpensive and doesn’t require you to be a famous novelist in order
to get an E-Book published on the Internet. Of course, these E-Books
will need to be high quality, but once you know how to create them
they are really not too hard to do.
Later on we will explore how to create an E-Book first hand.
Reports
Reports are smaller versions of an e-Book. Typically, they are lead
generators to your e-Book or to your products themselves. Reports are
a great way to get visitors to come back to your site again.
You can either charge a small fee for a report or give them away free.
Either way, your potential customers will get great content that will
lure them back to your website. The more they visit your site, the
more chances you have to sell them one of your products.
This kind of content has flexibility as far as what information to provide
and how long to make it.
E-Books tend to give the most information to consumers, but reports
can do the same if you choose. You can split reports to provide both
benefit information and the actual how to content. Or you can put
them both in one longer report and offer it without the extra fluff that
e-Books usually give.
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Website Content
Your website is like your business card or your online catalog. This is
where your products are sold or your services are viewed and
contracted. The site’s content is what essentially will sell your
prospects on what you’re offering.
A brick and mortar business will usually have sales person that can
work with prospects face-to-face in order to close the sale. Your online
business deals mainly with the Internet where face-to-face sales aren’t
an option.
The content on your website needs to be your sales team. It needs to
address your website visitors when they stop in and it needs to show
them that your products or services are the answer to their problems.
Blogs
Blogs are mini- websites. They help get you known as a business
owner as well as help Internet surfers find you and your business
website. Every so often websites contain informative articles but Blogs
are websites that contain lots of information that can be updated every
day or every few days to be noticed by the search engines.
Your business needs great content in order to stay in the forefront of
your prospect’s minds. The more content you can throw at them, the
better your chances are. Blogs are a great way to do this as they
provide them with shorter tidbits of information on a regular basis.
Blogs are also a more relaxing atmosphere. People can learn
information about a topic without feeling as if they’re being hounded to
buy something. They can also get to know you as a person behind the
business. People want to deal with people and not just a website.
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Newsletters
Newsletters are a great way to present content to your prospects over
and over and over. They work along with your autoresponder e-mail
marketing programs. Newsletters provide short bits of news on a topic
that a prospect receives on a regular basis.
They can be sent out every week, month or every couple of days if you
wish. People that do stumble onto your site can choose to opt-in to
your newsletter sign-up list where they can be sent information
regularly in their e-mail inbox.
Imagine giving your prospects the information they want on a weekly
or monthly basis, while exposing them to your business repeatedly.
Using a newsletter autoresponder makes getting your prospect back to
your website a much easier task.
Now, that you have taken a glimpse at the power of content marketing
as well as which types of content you could be harnessing power from;
let’s move onto the nitty gritty. How to create the most successful high
quality content that gets you long term results for business marketing.
Creating Compelling Content that Achieves Marketing Success
By now, you realize the importance of including high quality content in
your marketing plan. However, it’s more than just writing some
documents and slapping them out onto the world wide web scene. You
need to create the best content you can in order for it to work.
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Don’t worry. Writing content for your business doesn’t require a P.H.D.
in English or Journalism. It takes some work and thought, but you
certainly don’t have to be a famous writer to create content that drives
your target audience to you.
There are some tips that you should keep in mind when you do create
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