Small Business Website Content Planning

CONTENT PLANNING FOR YOUR WORDPRESS SITE/BLOG Cynthia Trevino WordPress San Diego Community Meetup August 23, 2011

AGENDA• Why Website Content Counts• Content Deﬁnitions• 10 Steps to Content Planning• Questions

WHY GREAT CONTENT COUNTS • Posting unique content is one of most cost-effective ways to “get found” online • Sharing your knowledge starts customer relationships • Supplying help/answers “with no strings attached” makes your site memorable to your ideal customers image: iStock

The quality + freshness of your websitecontent matters because you want to make money.

Endless customer choices when searching for help:Google, YouTube, Facebook, Bing, bigmedia sites, Forbes.com, Alltop, blogs, forums...

AOL, NIELSEN STUDY, 2010: CONTENT IS THE FUEL OF THE SOCIAL WEBhttp://advertising.aol.com/sites/default/files/webfm/research/research-reports/social-web/AOL_Social_Web.pdf

WEBSITE CONTENT DEFINITIONSGreat content• Captures visitors’ attention • Isrelevant to the “job they need done”• Provides accurate answers • Informs + is accurate• Adds value to visitor’s search for help • Can be fun • Engages

WEBSITE CONTENT DEFINITIONS• Content marketing: using different types of valuable, frequently-updated information to ﬁnd customers • Getting your site found by your ideal customers • Building awareness for your products, services, brand • Earning credibility + trust by sharing your expertise • Winning customers by starting relationships • Inspiring online sharing of your content

WEBSITE CONTENT DEFINITIONS• Content types • Blog posts, website articles, newsletters • Frequently Asked Questions/Q&A • White papers, eBooks • Newsworthy press releases, customer experience stories • Customer success stories, case studies • How-to guides, cheat sheets, tips, tutorials

WEBSITE CONTENT DEFINITIONS• Content formats: ways visitors can “consume” content on your site or blog • Text, pictures, graphs, charts • Online video, YouTube videos, audio podcasts • Archived “on demand” webinars • PowerPoint

WEBSITE CONTENT DEFINITIONS• Outbound marketing: Traditional, old school tactics for stimulating awareness and ﬁnding customers. Interruption marketing. • Cold calling, telemarketing • Print advertising • Trade shows • Junk mail, direct mail • Buying or renting email lists

WEBSITE CONTENT DEFINITIONS • Inbound marketing: Using valuable, original content to attract your ideal customers to your website and/or blog • Making your site/blog your online “hub” • Developing fresh, high-quality content to win customers • Linkingto your content-rich “hub” website or blog from social media sitesimage iStock

10 STEPS TO CONTENT PLANNINGFOR YOUR BLOG OR WEBSITE

STEP 1: WHO IS YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER? • Creating great content starts with a rock-solid proﬁle of your ideal customer • Develop a much deeper understanding than... male, 40-60 years old • Who do they follow? • Children, favorite sites/ publications, education, vacation spots...image iStock

STEP 2: REFRESH YOUR KEYWORDS• Research up-to-date industry terms your ideal customers use• Ask customers, prospects terms they use to search online• Track top competitors’ keywords• Stay on top of current big problems your customers face

STEP 3: DEVELOP YOUR “CALLS TO ACTION”• Exactlywhat do you want visitors to do on your site/blog in order for you to win the business? • Sign-up for e-newsletter • Fill out a lead form • Call you • Take a survey • Download a piece of content in exchange for joining your distribution list

STEP 4: REINFORCE YOUR CREDIBILITY• Post customer success stories using your products, services• One-up your competition’s level of knowledge sharing• Link to 3rd party sites where your content is published image: Flickr, Sterling Grace Jewelry

STEP 5: FIND CUSTOMER-FRIENDLY TOPICS• Call, talk to at least 2 customers every day• Scan customer emails• Identify themes being discussed at customers’ favorite social media sites• Think about recent customer conversations image iStock

STEP 6: REPURPOSE EXISTING CONTENT• Inventory all information, documents• Reﬁne content with new introduction• Break up longer documents into blog posts, cheat sheets• Repurpose how-to info, guides, customer tip sheets image iStock

STEP 7: OUTLINE YOUR CONTENT PLAN• Use any outline method that works for you• Develop a spreadsheet or word processing document• Track keywords, topics, types of content• Determine frequency of posting

WEBSITE EDITORIAL CONTENT CALENDARSource: Content Marketing Institutehttp://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2010/08/content-marketing-editorial-calendar/

SAMPLE BLOG CONTENT CALENDARSource: Resonnect

SAMPLE CONTENT CALENDAR (WORD)Source: Resonnect

STEP 8: ADD SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING• Don’tforget email is the primary sharing channel for most people• Use the sharing buttons for your customers’ preferred social networks• Peoplewant to share information that will help others

STEP 9: EXECUTE YOUR CONTENT PLAN• Recruit guest bloggers, authors• Plan your content out at least 8 weeks• Write in “chunks”• Request testimonials, case studies• Decide how to do video

STEP 10: NEVER STOP TESTING, IMPROVING YOUR CONTENT• Obtaincustomer feedback on your content• Track metrics--which content resonates with your ideal customers?• Update your content• Keepcreating content that works image iStock

ABOUT ME• Cynthia Trevino, Small Business Marketing Mentor• Reducingthe learning curve for businesses open to using social media to ﬁnd customers.• Blogging since 2006 at: www.smallcompanybigimage.com• cytrevino@resonnect.com

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Small Business Website Content Planning

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Small Business Website Content Planning — Presentation Transcript