Work Yourself Up!

Creating Content that is Relevant for Readers and Search Engines

Want your website to stand out? Pay attention to the kind of articles that you upload. Readers want to be on the cutting edge of topics and that is where you'll want to be to increase your traffic.

Content usually takes the form of articles, blog posts, audio and video too. The first requirement for content is that it be relevant to the topic of your website. If your website is about selling crafts, then the articles that you supply to your readers are going to need to revolve around that subject. In other words, don't be talking plumbing if you cater to crafty moms.

Be Creative

There is a lot of content out there these days so it is not easy to come up with something new. One way is to start with the basic information and add your special touch. Personal experiences go a long way to connecting with your readers and also providing them with information that would be hard to get anywhere else.

Use your failures as fresh content. Did you try to combine a couple of marketing techniques that absolutely didn't work? Create an article that highlights what readers "shouldn't" do. What did you learn from it? Create an article that gives tips for success using that technique.

Your content can be spun off into other types of website media. Create videos and audio files based on your content. It is a way to reach a wider audience who are more attracted to other ways to present relevant information.

Don't Forget the SEO

Now that you have written ideas for your content, decide which keywords would work best in those articles. These are what will make the search engines stand up and take notice. But, in the interest of your readers, your articles will read better if the keywords appear naturally. Don't try to force them in spots where it sounds like you are just adding words to appease the search engine gods. Your readers will be turned off by such contrived content.

Special Features

Your content will serve three purposes: keep current readers happy, satisfy SEO requirements and draw new traffic. To meet the latter, try using these options in your content:

- Bulleted points
- Optimized article titles
- Numbers in your titles

Readers usually scan articles first to see if they are relevant. When numbers appear in the title, they know that they will find a certain number of things that can help them. Bulleted points make for easier reading as do subheadings. Optimized catchy titles make them want to click on your link instead of others in the search results.

Is your content doing all it can for your readers and the search engines? If not, read this article again and then refit your articles to do the best job they can.

Newsletters: Create a Feeling of Community with Your Readers

When you started your online business, you knew that you would have to have the traffic to make it a worthwhile venture. With your marketing plan, ideas were already recorded to help that become a reality. Here's one you may not have thought about: newsletters. They bring the reader into the "know" and that could mean dollars and cents to you.

A business website gives visitors the basics of your operation. You want to use your resources to tell them about what you do and why they need to get involved with you. There is not always enough space to put columns or tidbits that would be important to readers but not necessarily part of your main marketing agenda.

Newsletters are designed not only to inform but also to let readers get to know you. There can be a column written by you that thanks them for being loyal readers and customers (leading them to buy if they haven't already). You can share honest appreciation for what they do for you.

The Magic of Newsletters

When you don't have enough room for the fun things (contests, freebie offers) and the more in-depth things (affiliate program info, new products) that you want your readers to know put it in a newsletter. There are several formats for online newsletters:

- One page layout that you email to subscribers
- Multiple page PDF format they can access through a link in email
- Animated links on website

Usually, newsletters are sent to subscribers. These are readers who come to your site and opt-in for it by giving you their email address and name. Each month they get an email with your newsletter or link to the newsletter.

For longer newsletters with more information, you can create a PDF they can access, download, print and share with others. This way, your newsletter goes viral to people who know your readers.

Creating a "Subscriber Only" section on your site gives them access to newsletters that have video or animation that they won't see if they had a PDF. This makes readers feel special that they have a place just for them on your site.

Your format is up to you. Whatever you feel that will engage your readers, use it. In the beginning they may not want a lot of flash since it could be viewed as trickery. Keep it simple until they ask for more.

Customer Spotlight

Newsletters are a way to highlight those readers who want to be known. Maybe you have visitors who have joined your affiliate program or have opted in the previous month for the newsletter. Listing their names gives them a place of importance in your business.

What will you place in your newsletter? Creating one, to catch all the "tidbit" information that readers really love, helps them feel like a vital part of your enterprise.

Start a Business Blog to Connect with Readers

It seems like just about everyone has a blog these days: students, moms, churches. So where is yours? Businesses can really benefit from a blog that goes along with their website.

Business websites are for conducting business. You use the pages to tell potential customers about what you do. They can find out all they want to know about hiring a gardener, choosing flowers, buying seeds and landscaping their dream garden if that is where your business is at. What they don't usually find out about is your life.

When you read online, you can connect with a website through the words of their content. Depending on the type of "voice", you'll want to read more. Readers may even want to know what is behind your passion for the sort of business that you have created. They won't find that on a website.

And, words can sometimes be deceiving. People can promise a lot but not deliver. It can be hard to trust a voice coming through words on a screen without a face or any other information to go with it.

Blogs

Blogs came into creation as online journals. They still are in a way. A blog is less business-like and more personal. Personal is what your readers will want from you. On a blog, they can meet you on another level that will help them to appreciate you even more on a business level.

This doesn't mean that you have to spill all your dirty secrets for them to get to know you. It is about building relationships that will last. So, in the interest of that, you can be the first to extend the olive branch.

Blogs are great because readers and customers can interact with you each time you post. They can sign in and give great feedback every day if they want.

Your posts don't have to be very formal. Start by introducing yourself and talking about your road to the online business world. It is an opener that could be just enough to draw your readers in.

Communicating

When readers leave feedback they are responding to posts. Will you leave it at that? Communication is a two-way street. Answer their comments as often as you can - which needs to be more often than not. Carry on a conversation with the people who are willing to give you a chance.

Blogging for business is a useful tool for building relationships with readers and customers. It gives them a chance to see you as a real person just like them and not just a name who wants their sale.

Find out What Your Readers are Thinking with Surveys

Have you ever received one of those surveys in the mail after visiting a store or having a surgical procedure? One of the most prominent questions is "What did you like and what can we improve on?" It is worded differently in each one you receive but the point is that they want to know your opinion of the job they are doing. Use surveys to get in touch with your readers.

Surveys are quite helpful. Anyone can sell a product online and get a few sales, but not everyone can tap into what their readers want to create lifelong customers. This would mean repeat business which is better than one-time hits.

The Point of Surveys

The point of a survey is to gauge the reader's opinion of something. The information is useful for creating things like:

- Better customer service protocols
- New products
- New programs
- New services
- Improve sales

But, you must do something with them for all of this to happen. Don't just let those metrics go to waste. Some sites use survey companies to distribute and tally website surveys and polls. It makes the job easier for you and they will also give you a breakdown of what they discovered with the surveys.

Now the rest is up to you. Start by creating a spreadsheet that includes all of the responses given. It would be best to use a survey that has lettered choice instead of just write-in boxes. Now, rank the responses. Use this as a framework for coming up with ways to try and make changes in answer to what your readers would like to see.

Reader Response

You may have to do a few surveys to get readers to take them seriously. As an online customer you know that sometimes surveys are simply for show. The companies who ask for your input never do anything about the suggestions that you give. But, all of them are not like that.

This is where the relationship building begins with your readers on this front. Try to change one thing at a time. If you can, bring attention to it so that readers know you took them seriously. In the future more people will take the surveys and help you to make your business a success.

Give it a try. Your readers are as ready to help you as you are to help them. After all, you can't always read their mind and if you can give them what they want they'll be more apt to stick with you for the long haul instead of finding someone else who can.