Content is a powerful tool for advertising your website

Your new web page is ready to go.  You have the perfect layout and the right product. Now you’re ready for traffic.  That’s where website advertising comes in. 

But what if the budget is tight, and you can’t afford an expensive ad campaign?  Or what if you’re looking for something beyond pay-per-click or other traditional ad formats?

Enter, Content Marketing

Content marketing is an effective, affordable tool for advertising your website, if it’s done the right way.  Ready to give it a try?  Here’s a quick overview of the basics of content marketing for your website.

Make sure it’s original

Content as a way of advertising your website only works if the content is something new.  Articles, newsletters and other material that appear on dozens or even thousands of other websites won’t help your site reach the top of the search engine results.  In fact, duplicate content can actually hurt your website’s position, pushing it down in search results below what the search engine spiders consider the “original source” for the content.

Give it value

Website content is only as good as the value it offers your website visitors. Random content, even with all the right keywords, won’t help you in advertising your website.  You need to offer your site visitors a reason to come back to your site, and a reason to move deeper into your site.

Quality articles or newsfeeds that provide your site visitors with new insights, essential background, or even just entertainment (as long as it’s targeted towards potential shoppers/buyers) will increase return visits and boost the time each visitor spends on the site, both factors in improving your organic position in searches.

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Keep it fresh

No matter how informative the articles and other content are your site may be, you need to keep the content fresh to keep traffic and organic results high. Building a library of articles or newsletters is good for your site’s performance, but make sure you continually add new material and update old information. 

Not only does fresh content send a message to search engines that yours is a valuable site, it also keeps your site visitors coming back to see what’s new.  That gives you ongoing opportunities to convert visitors into customers.

Give it links

Make it easy for your site visitors to find their way around the content on your site with links between pages.  Create navigation tools, but also interlink articles and other content with natural links within the content. 

Spread the word

Once you’ve created great content on your site, share the news.  Post links to your content on social networks like Twitter and Facebook and add it to relevant directories. Mention your content appropriately in online comments in blogs, discussion sites and in network groups.  Link to content pages in press releases and offsite articles about your company or industry.

Advertising without advertising

Content lets you advertise your website without ever making customers feel like they’re being “sold to.” And in today’s message-sensitive world, that’s the best kind of advertising of all.