SEO and Content Marketing - A Productive Match

Content Marketing is a concept that has been around for a while now. At its essence, content marketing is sharing your thought leadership and educating your prospects through your online channels so that by the time they are ready to make a decision to make a purchase or do business, they choose you.

SEO (search engine optimization) is another must in the online business world if you want to be found.

As a writer and marketer, it thrills me to no end that the current status of SEO has a lot to do with creating engaging and helpful content. I recently attended a seminar hosted by the Philadelphia Public Relations Association and presented by representatives of of Seer Interactive and SEOM Interactive where they shared current best SEO practices to the PR pros in attendance, including how to use your content to increase your SEO results.

Read all about it in this recap I wrote for the Solo PR Pro blog.

Blogging. Why Bother?

We're big fans of blogging for business. Why? Here are just a few things a blog can do to build your business:

- Make your customers feel familiar with you before they even visit your store or office.

- Establish your credibility within your industry.

- Allow you to provide value to potential customers, making them more likely to become customers.

In fact, a blog is a valuable asset to your business. In this piece from Mark W. Schaefer, he points out that while the "comments" section of your blog isn't on fire with activity, that alone isn't evidence that your business blog isn't worth the time and effort.

Perhaps the most pointed reason among the 10 he lists is this:

A cost-effective sales call — You might not be able to visit your customer every week or every month but a blog is an excellent way to provide a constant drip-drip-drip of communication to remind them of your products, services, and why you’re special.  If they don’t read your blog, re-purpose the content in customer newsletters and sales materials.

From increased SEO to public relations, a business blog is a wise invesment. Not sure where to begin? VoiceMatters, LLC is happy to help; contact us today!

Old School is the New School

One of this week's articles of note is Ken Krogue's "The Death Of SEO: The Rise of Social, PR, And Real Content" where he points out that traditional SEO is being overtaken by - ready? - good old fashioned valuable content. 

Invest in real, valuable, relevant content that your audience wants. Grow your internal thought leaders to where they can add value to your audience and positioning in the market. Follow internal SEO practices to make sure it is found and sees the light of day. Take the time to make it so compelling that people talk about it and share it.

Valuable content is what draws people to you. It's part of what makes them trust you enough to do business with you. Certainly, SEO still has a viable role, but in the end it seems old school is the new school.

Thanks to @JeremyVictor of MakeGoodMedia.com for the original tweet to this article. Follow Ken Krogue on Twitter. 

What do you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts.