Today, I’m off to the 2013 Conductor C3 conference in New York to talk about actionable, content strategies and ideas. As a sneak preview, huddle in for a snapshot of how adding and refreshing content was successful for one of My Web Writers’s clients. We used Searchlight to map the progress.
Before Content:
It amazes me how some Internet Marketers glibly preach, “content is king” and yet remove content fields at the tops and bottoms of their web pages. Why?
Some e-tailers believe that words clutter a page’s look, while others lack the manpower, planning, and budget for content. “Pictures are worth a thousand words,” right?
A year ago, one of My Web Writers’s clients embarked on a site redesign. Two weeks before launch the redesign team informed us of the project and that they needed a lot of content quickly. Unfortunately, this customer did not plan for content and thus didn’t have the budget until 2013 to add content to a significant number of blank pages. Sales and SEO suffered during the wait.
Our team was able to put the final pages of content up by February 2013. Then, we went back and attacked pages that hadn’t been touched in over a year. Because we kept spreadsheets of what had been refreshed and when it had been refreshed and had the advantage of using Searchlight, Conductor’s keyword tool and Google Analytics, we were able to identify which urls needed new and improved content.
What Kind of Content?
In 2012, I’d worked with Conductor’s Searchlight tool for about a year before attending the C3 conference as a participant. During one of the evening socials, a camera crew interviewed me about my Searchlight experience.
This year, I’m going to touch on what content to add and where to add it on your website. In general, deliver the content that your keywords promise, be mindful of spelling and grammar, show and don’t tell the story, and reach out to customers to help you with user-generated content. Employ writers who combine product knowledge, category facts, and persona data with SEO, marketing, and customer-service savvy.
After Content
By April we were beginning to see traction with not only the client’s most strategic keywords, but a plethora of other industry terms that had been under-performing, simply because picture-only pages now offered conversion-inspiring content.
Sales improved.
Do you have a similar story?
By all means, if you’ll be at #C3NY, please come over, say “hi,” and share your story!
~Jean
Other Posts:
Twenty-five Effective, Call-to-Action Phrases in E-commerce Content
Ten Tips for Starting a Social Media Conversation
Tell a Better Story: Tips and Tricks from Mark Twain
Content for Less, Fat Brain Toys Involves Customers in Content Creation
My Web Writers - Website Content & Editing Ideas 