Here in lesson #4 of the “90 Days to Higher Search Engine Rankings Challenge,” I’ll show you how to create content designed to generate backlinks, rank in even more positions in the search engines for your keywords, and all while laying down the foundation of branding yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

There is a search term (with 2,300,000 results in Google) that when searched for, my content appears in 5 of the top 10 natural results spots. But even more likely than that is the fact that they will click multiple links in the search engine results to see their options. And when they find my content over and over and over and over and over again, they are likely to realize something… this chick must know what she’s talking about. This is how you begin to develop yourself as a thought leader and gain visibility in the search engines while also building backlinks to your site.

The way to hold more than one spot is to publish quality, optimized content on authority sites. Instead of only posting on your blog, publish content on user generated content authority sites as well. A search engine will at the most show 2 (sometimes 3) result listings for your website or blog - but if you publish content on authority sites you expand your ability to rank in more spots in the search engines while also building quality backlinks.

Coming Clean With Excuses…

I’m a writer by trade. I have been running a copywriting agency for five years. I have a degree in literature in writing. You’d think it would be simple for me to crank out content non-stop. But it’s not! And the reasons have nothing to do with time, skill, or lack of something to say, they are all excuses that are deep rooted in fear. If I have them, I bet you do too. And like me, you’ll need to come clean with those excuses and deal with them before you will successfully execute anything on the rest of this post.

Even though we produce thousands of pieces of content per year for other people, I still get nervous and agonize about everything I write with ‘my’ name in the byline.

Here’s the exact process that I go through when writing content for myself including this very blog post you are reading now. (Interesting enough… this magically does not happen when I’m doing work for other people.)

• Is anyone even going to care about this?
• My last post didn’t get as many comments as some of the others so I’m a loser and I should just give up
• I’d better call Tara and see what she thinks of this topic
• I need to run to Starbucks and get a coffee. Need to be alert and focused
• Ooooh! I heard an email, it might be important - better go check (this means I come back to it at 8pm)
• Man… I’m really tired. I should get some sleep and get up early when I’m refreshed and on my game
• I really want people to try this and have it work for them - do I have enough detail?
• OMG… this has gotten so long. No one is ever going to read it. What’s the point?
• There is too much to cover in one piece. I think I need to create an XYZ and an ABC to accompany it
• Why am I giving away all of this freaking content for free? I should be spending my time writing a book
• I’d better ask Tara to proof read this… No doubt I’ll have some error in there and some snarky commenter will point it out to me without mentioning one thing about the 2000 words that were correct.
• Maybe I should read over it one more time before I push the publish button
• Ugh… why did I write THAT. I need to fix that really quick…
• What if everyone hates it or no one reads it at all, or if no one really cares in the first place?
• Ok. Publish.

But when I bite the bullet and push through and get it done, it always well worth it!

Avoiding The #1 Most Common Mistake I See People Make With Content Marketing

As a content development strategist for hundreds of companies over the last five years, I see business owners making #1 blatantly gigantic thinking error time and again: They want to publish advertorials instead of informational content. They only want to create content that will directly sell their product.

They want to publish an advertorial titled something like:
“Why XYZ Web Design Company is So Freaking Awesome”

vs. an informative piece like:

“7 Winning Strategies for Web Design that Converts”
or
“The Conversion Impact of Right Navigation Contact Forms vs. Contact Pages”
or
“The Impact of Website Color Pallets on Buying Habits: A Case Study”

I hear people say (and understand why they do):

• “Why should I reveal to people how to do what I do?”
• “Won’t they then go do it themselves?”
• “Won’t I be giving away my secrets to my competitors?”
• “My customers won’t need me any more!”

But that’s not the way it is…

This is the information age. Companies can no longer control people by withholding information. People are already looking for this information. And if they don’t find your content, they are going to find someone else’s.

When you publish useful, valuable, informational content, you establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry:

• Good customers like to work with industry leaders
• People want to interview you as an expert for blogs and info products
• Event coordinators want to book you for speaking engagements
• Strategic partners want to find ways to work with you

Publishing “thought leader” worthy content also has numerous SEO benefits:

• By publishing good optimized content in the right places, customers have more ways of finding you through various search terms
• People will naturally link to good quality informational pieces — one-way inbound links from a variety of sources improves the “value” in the eyes of a search engine. (Remember, when a search engine perceives a page as useful and valuable, it tends to rank higher).
• People tend to mention quality pieces on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, giving the piece viral buzz. Remember, someone’s reputation is on the line when they recommend content on social networks — influencers want to good, solid content pieces to endorse (link to).
• Being interviewed and mentioned on blogs, trade journal websites, and newspaper websites has the same inbound link power effect.

For the Naysayers…
There are some people who will no doubt say “well…some of the places where you can publish user generated content have no follow backlinks and that won’t help with rankings.” In a way that is true, but in a more important way, this is not thinking big picture.

First, many places where I suggest publishing content do have ‘do follow’ links - so therefore does work to increase your site’s position in the SERPs. Secondly, one of the most important goals with leveraging authority sites in your content marketing is to gain top rankings with that content for an additional search engine results for your keywords and therefore another point of entry.

Creating Powerful, Linkable Content Marketing Pieces

With any of these, I feel that it is essential that you write about things that you have first-person experience with. People can spot when you’ve just researched a topic and haven’t walked the walk. When reading content, don’t you look for information that comes from as close to the source as possible?

#1 Write ‘How To’ Guide That Address Common Things People Struggle With As They Relate To Your Product or Service

If you’re already working with customers or you have a blog, you probably get emails with questions. Think of all of the content you are writing by answering those questions! Why not leverage your knowledge by publishing good, solid, how to guides. Not only will publishing give you more visibility, backlinks, promotion, and position you as an industry expert, you can point people to those guides when they write and save yourself valuable time.

In your content:

• Give actual examples (screenshots showing figures, quote real numbers, etc)
• Weave a personal experience story into the content
• State your credentials (without bragging)

Look beyond questions too where you as a professional see people struggling. For example, because I run a press release distribution site, I know that press release headline writing is a major problem for people. They don’t think it’s a problem, so they don’t know to ask. I have a series of 10 ‘How To’ guides in the works that address things that people aren’t necessarily asking, but that I know most people need some direction with.

Brainstorming Questions….

• What are the most common questions you receive from customers or readers?
• What in your industry do you see people struggling to do effectively?
• If you have employees, what problems do they struggle with in learning your industry?

Sometimes it’s scary to write a ‘How To’ that explains exactly what you do. I was terrified the first time that I wrote a ‘How To’ that revealed the ‘How To’ behind what I do. I thought it would make me obsolete. I thought it would make all of my competitors take my business away. But in fact, it had quite the opposite effect.

#2 Think About The Core Needs Of Your Target Audience As They Relate To Your Products and Services — Then Provide Solutions

Your target audience has more needs than just your product or service. A lot of times, they may not be searching for what you offer, because they don’t realize they need it — but that doesn’t mean that they don’t. Why not reach out to them where they are looking by solving some of their other problems?For example, let’s say that you sell engraved award plaques. When trying to pick topic ideas, my clients will often suggest things like “How To Pick the Best Award Plaque,” or “3 Reasons to Present Award Plaques.” Both of these topics are somewhat company-centric vs. customer centric. And with such a narrow focus, it’s possible that they are missing out on reaching a big chunk of the target audience.

More useful topic ideas that address the target audience’s real needs might be:

• “5 Ideas You Can Implement This Year to Increase Office Productivity” (one of the ideas being an award ceremony where plaques are distributed)
• “Coaching Strategies: 7 Ways to Turn 20 Kids Into a Winning Little League Team” (one of the strategies being handing out awards to each team member)
• “Planning a Lively and Effective Employee Award Ceremony”

Notice how these topics aren’t centered on awards themselves — they focus on topics that solve real problems for their target audience where awards are a solution.

Brainstorming Questions…

• What is the catalyst that causes people to need your product or service?
• How can you help the person who needs your product or service perform incredibly in front of the people who are judging him or her (boss, customer, little league parents, employees, etc)?
• What mind shift needs to take place in order for people to unlearn their old systems and try a new solution?
• What are some other ways customers can (or have) used your solutions?

#3 How Can You Teach Potential Strategic Partners Make More or Achieve More?

In my post How I made $100,000 by spending 25 minutes and $0 on Marketing, I talk about how I grew my business by helping other people grow their businesses. I feel that this has been the key to my success not only because it makes sense, but also because it keeps my head in the right place. It keeps me thinking “How can I help my clients and partners become better” rather than “How can I make more money.”

No matter what business you are in, there are companies out there that can be your strategic partners. They need what you have to better serve their clients. Speaking to them is different than speaking to the end user who needs your product or service. They have different needs, different challenges, and different goals.

For example, if you sell a tanning lotion that for use in tanning beds. Your end client is the tanner, but your strategic partner is the tanning salon that can display your product and make it available to purchase right when the customer needs it. A piece of flagship content titled “How Tanning Salons Can Increase Product Sales by 60%” or “Sales Training for Tanning Salon Employees” would be a good pieces of content to attract the attention of potential strategic partners. When they depend on YOU for solutions, you’re in a position to earn trust. When you’re solutions really work, you’ve earned that trust.

Here are some other strategic partnership relationship examples:

• You offer talking virtual spokesperson technology - they build websites
• You create and edit short, fun product demonstration videos - they build ecommerce sites
• You wrote an e-book on motivational techniques - they provide business consulting

Brainstorming Questions….

• Which industries that offer related but not competing products or services could benefit from reselling what you offer?
• How can you ‘teach’ those people to sell more of your products while improving their business as a whole?
• What “old world” companies could desperately be brought up to date by using the new solutions that you offer?

Your Challenge Should You Choose to Accept…

Your task as part of the 90 Days To Higher Search Engine Rankings Challenge is to create and publish the following pieces of content over the next 4 weeks:

• 1 Flagship HubPage
• 1 Slideshare Slidshow
• 1 Press Release
• 1 Article marketing article
• 1 Informational PDF

Once you use these guidelines to write the content, you’ll need to know where to publish them and how to promote them…

5 Places To Publish Your Content That Offer Search Engine Visibility And SEO Value

Writing great quality content pieces is step one. But just as important is WHERE you publish them. If you’re only publishing content on your blog or your website and not leveraging authority sites, then you’re missing out on some major opportunities for visibility and search engine authority.

Leveraging authority sites is a solid way to get more visibility and generate leads. Done right, it’s not a waste of time. In the 28 months that one of my hubs has been published, it has been ranking #1 position in the search engines for various keywords, generated business for my company, and to date has gotten 17,341 views (an average of 619 views per month). Not bad for one piece of content.

This post being over 2,000 words now I felt it was a good idea to split it up so created a HubPage titled Authority Site Content Marketing: 5 Powerful Strategies for Leveraging Authority Sites To Publish Your Content. But length is not the only reason I’m going to direct you to HubPages for the rest of the content. I’m doing this to show the strategies discussed in this article in practice. By splitting it up between a blog post and a HubPage (and soon to be slideshow, PDF, and press release), I’m getting more mileage from this topic while having the space to give you all of the critical information necessary to really and truly use content marketing to your advantage — and you can do the same!

What’s Stopping You From Starting?

I want to hear about your questions, challenges, and successes about content marketing!

• What are your greatest challenges around content marketing?
• What is stopping you from starting?
• Want to brainstorm some topic ideas?

Get a conversation started — I look forward to hearing from you!

Topics: 90 Days to Higher Search Engine Rankings Challenge, Business Development |

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