How Can Freely Sharing Articles You Author Help You Build Business?

Make friends with your customers, both potential and existing, by giving freely.

Summary: Customers ignore advertisements because advertisements saturate our lives and we've learned most of them can't be trusted. So how can you reach ad-weary customers? By freely educating them. If a customer can learn something valuable from you, they are more likely to respect you, trust you, remember you, and recommend you. This technique is often called "Content Marketing." To help you better understand what Content Marketing is and how it can help your company, I thought it would be helpful to share an excellent definition I found on Wikipedia today.

Which is a customer more likely to ignore, a helpful article or a traditional advertisement? Which is a customer more likely to show to colleagues, an educational video or a video advertisement?

Freely sharing helpful articles, videos, etc. to grow your business is an effective method called "Content Marketing." Below is a definition of Content Marketing from Wikipedia.org:

"Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases. In contrast to traditional marketing methods that aim to increase sales or awareness through interruption techniques, content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action.

The idea of sharing content as a means of persuading decision-making has driven content marketers to make their once-proprietary informational assets available to selected audiences. Alternatively, many content marketers choose to create new information and share it via any and all media. Content marketing products frequently take the form of custom magazines, print or online newsletters, digital content, websites or microsites, white papers, webcasts/webinars, podcasts, video portals or series, in-person roadshows, roundtables, interactive online, email, events. The purpose of this information is not to spout the virtues of the marketer’s own products or services, but to inform target customers and prospects about key industry issues, sometimes involving the marketer’s products. The motivation behind content marketing is the belief that educating the customer results in the brand’s recognition as a thought leader and industry expert.

Marketers may use content marketing as a means of achieving a variety of business goals, such as thought leadership, lead generation, increasing direct sales, improving retention and more.

Content marketing is the underlying philosophy driving techniques such as custom media, custom publishing, database marketing, brand marketing, branded entertainment and branded content." (Wikipedia, 2008.)

Put simply, Content Marketing allows you to build a closer relationship with the customer than mere advertising can provide by freely giving him with educational articles, audio, video, that address his problems and also demonstrate your company's value and expertise.

So do not delay. Start sharing your expertise with your existing and potential customers by writing articles with solutions to their problems and placing them prominently on your website, sending them out in email, and using any other reasonable method. If you share your expertise freely, you will generate goodwill and will gain the potential customer's respect and business. However, if you do not share your expertise freely, customers will incorrectly assume that you don't share information because you don't have their interests in mind, or worse you don't have the expertise you claim to have. As a result, they will take their business to a more convincing competitor. So apply this saying to your expertise, "Practice giving and people will give to you."

References

Wikepedia. 2008. "Content marketing."

This definition of Content Marketing was shared under the terms of the Wikipedia Licensing agreement.

What is a blog and do I need one?

Screen capture from Blogger.com as I use Blogger to create this blog post. Tools such as blogger can save you time if you frequently write articles for your customers to read.

Summary: The technology world tends to get excited about new products and new ideas, blogging just being the example we’re going to discuss today. However, the average businessperson wisely views the technology world with some skepticism. We have learned that technology is never the magic pill to solve business problems. Blogs are no different. In themselves, they have no special power to solve business problems. Nevertheless, it is wise to ask, “What is a blog?” and “Do I need one?” This article will help answer those questions.

So, what is a blog? To start, this article that you’re reading is a blog. Put simply, a blog is a column, similar to a daily newspaper column, which is published on a website instead of in print. Just as a newspaper column can be a Dear Abbey, a column about sports, or a political opinions column, a blog can also be about any topic. Just like columns are a series of regularly published articles, blogs are a series of regularly published posts. Newspaper columns are typically read in print. Blogs are typically read online.

However, blogs are not exactly like newspaper columns. Whereas a newspaper column is published at most once per day, a blog can be published as often as you want. That’s because it’s cheaper to update a blog on a website than it is to print a newspaper. Some blogs are updated every hour. For example, just recently, a blogger published one post every hour for 24 hours straight about Kobe Bryant. Even the New York Times could not afford to print twenty four updates to their sports column in a single day. And who would buy all twenty-four copies?

Another difference between blogs and newspaper columns is that, while newspaper columns are controlled by the newspaper, a blog is controlled by you. You are the author, or someone you hire is.

As I mentioned earlier, this article you’re reading on my website right now is an example of a blog post. But what makes blogs so special? How is this blog post any different from any other article on a website? The reality is that to most people there is no major difference.

From the reader’s perspective, blog posts may look no different than any other article on a website. If this is the case, then why is there so much buzz about blogging in the technology world?

This brings us to our next question, “Do you need a blog?”

The easy answer to that question is, No. A business can operate perfectly fine without a blog. However, blogging provides some advantages that make it a powerful tool for publishing communications to your customers.

It is best to think of blogging as using a writing tool just like one uses Microsoft Word. Word let’s you quickly write what you have to say, save your document to a file, and print it or email it for someone else to read. Similarly, a blogging tool let’s you write your thoughts into an article, automatically applies a standard blog layout and format, and automatically uploads the blog article to your website to share with your visitors. The tool builds the web page for you so that you don't have to be a programmer to put articles on your website.

In summary, if you plan to write lots of articles for your customers to read, then a blog can save you time. A blog helps make authoring and publishing articles on your website faster.

Blogs have a lot of other powerful features that also help you. However, there are so many features that they can’t be covered in just one article. But you wisely don't start blogging merely because blogs provide cool features. Instead it is wise to start blogging because you have something of value you want to say to customers on a regular basis and you want to do that as efficiently and effectively as possible. If your goal is the latter, then the features provided by blogging might be just what you need.

In conclusion, blogs are just a way to publish articles on a website. Blogs consist of a series of posts published at a regular time interval on a website just as newspaper columns consist of a series of articles printed in a newspaper at a regular time interval. Blogs, in and of themselves, do not solve business problems. Nevertheless, if you wish to communicate with your customers through regularly published articles, then a blog is often the easiest way to do this. That's why I write articles such as this through a blogging tool. Using blogging as a tool can save time and make it easier to share your articles with customers and partners.

Additional articles:

Blogger.com: "What’s a blog?", PBS.org: "What Exactly is a Blog?", WordPress.org: "What is a blog?"

[Video] Site Review: Music Instruments Website

Summary: Today I review a music instruments website. This website does an excellent job of providing visitors with articles, encyclopedia links, pictures and more about hundreds of instruments around the world. By educating customers, this website will satisfy visitors and get more Google search visitors. However, the site lacks a method for speaking directly to the customer, like I am with this blog. Blogs give a visitor incentive to come back to your website for further education. Watch the video to see the full review.

Is your website useful?

Google is the number one website on the internet. What can we learn from them?

Summary: A useful website generates sales because it convinces the customer that your product or service is likely to also be useful. Google is the quintessential useful website. Therefore, we do well to analyze our website to see if the website is really useful or if it is nothing more than a glorified business card.

Why is Google the number one website in the United States? Is it because Google has the prettiest colors? Is it because Google has the coolest logo? Or is it perhaps because Google is a great name for a website?

No. It's because Google is very useful to the people that use it. And what do those users do? They use Google over, and over, and over again.

We then should be seeking to do the same with our websites. Just like Google, our website needs to be useful if the customer is going to use it and tell his colleagues to use it.

What constitutes a useful website?

First, we must keep in mind why people use the internet. The average person uses the internet to get information. When a customer is on your website, remember he or she is likely looking for a specific piece of information. He may not be ready to buy just yet. So if you don't have the information he needs, the customer is going to leave in frustration and may never come back.

Therefore, what are some types of information you can and should provide on your website?

1. Detailed specifications for your products and services. Make sure to include prices and price or fee structure.
2. Articles, audio, and video to educate the customer about when your product or service should be used and when it should not be used.
3. Interviews with company executives, employees, and customers.
4. Case studies showing how your product or service has benefited previous customers.
5. Presentations demonstrating pertinent research your company has done in your field.
6. Data to help keep the customer informed about his competitors use of your industry's product or service.

No doubt there are many other valuable pieces of information you can give to your customers. Don't say, "Well, I sell a boring product and thus, I can't provide an abundance of helpful information to the customer." Can your customers benefit by understanding more about your products, your industry, and their own needs? If you answered, "Yes," then start sharing that information now.

What will be the result?

A useful website increases sales. When your website helps the customer, the customer is more likely to believe that your product or service will also help him. Therefore, he is more likely to give your product or service a try. However, if your website is useless and frustrating, the customer will doubt your entire company and your sales will be scanty.

That being the case, your goal should be to show the customer how valuable your company really is. Prove your value with a useful website that addresses his needs. Educate the customer, become an expert, and build the trust that generates sales.

Web writing tips: Large blocks of text are tiring to read...

Summary: On a landing page, such as your homepage, effective website text must be scannable to be effective.

In my class, "Psychology of an Internet Customer," I ask attendees the question, "What is wrong with website text that is not scannable?" (For those who have not attended the class, when we refer to scannable text, we're talking about text that is designed to be scanned as opposed to read.)

At my January 9th class, the answer I received to that question was, "The website user can become mentally fatigued or overwhelmed by the text." This is absolutely true.

I personally can attest to the fact that large blocks of text are fatiguing to read. The student added, 'When I see a large block of text on a website, I roll my eyes.'

Will users take the time to read large blocks of undifferentiated text? Again, many attendees correctly answer from their personal web browsing tastes, "No!"

Does that mean you should never write paragraphs on your website? Of course not. Otherwise, I'd be breaking that principle with this article.

What it means is that on a landing page, such as your home page, you should avoid large blocks of text and instead always make it scannable. How can you do this?

Below are some techniques:

1. Use bullets or numbered lists like this one.
   
2. Use bold text to draw the eye.
   
3. Cut out any marketing fluff and use true, objective statements.

These three techniques may seem simple, but the research presented in "Psychology of an Internet Customer" shows they are proven to work.

Announcing a New Class, "Promoting Your Business with Effective Web Content"

Summary: Ayo's Website Design is launching a new class, January 16th, to teach business owners how to use useful website content to attract increase website traffic.

A website must be useful to get visitors. Wouldn't you agree, you don't like to waste your time on a useless website? Your customer is the same.

With this in mind, how can you create a useful website? By providing quality information. With this in mind, we are happy to make the following announcement.

Starting January 16th, Ayo's Website Design is launching a class entitled, "Promoting Your Business with Effective Web Content". This class will be taught by Todd Hibbs, owner of Ten Cent Solutions. His experience at Microsoft lends itself well to this course outline.

The purpose of this class is to help business owners and marketing executives understand how they can increase their website traffic using articles, blogs, audio, and video.

The class is 2.5 hours and is offered in a classroom format with plans for future online classes. We hope that you will find this class as beneficial as our past classes.