What’s the place of hard work in content marketing?
You struggle all day to make sure that your website is seen by thousands of people, but it turns out you’re wasting precious time.
Do you feel sad about that?
So many content marketers aren’t getting results from the efforts they put into writing, marketing and all sorts. Why is this so?
Maybe you’ve a great idea, which you believe will benefit your ideal customers.
But how do you deliver it in such a manner that the right people will apply it to grow their business?
In order to use content marketing to drive targeted traffic, and sell your products and services, you must exchange a valuable asset with loyal audience.
What’s happening at this point?
If you ask 10 business owners what their greatest desire is, what do you think they would say? Even without you asking them, I could read their minds and tell you straight away: they need targeted audience and increase in sales.
You need to realize right now that prospective customers aren’t interested in advertising. It’s not why the internet was invented in the first place.
It was invented to establish a mutual communication that’s at the personal level. It’s a great platform for storytelling. Because human beings are wired to emotionally connect with stories.
In fact, advertising actually scares the target audience away. That’s why savvy content marketers employed a much better strategy to advertising. This time, it’s no longer the push style, but the pull strategy.
You hear that content is the only way to influence your target audience, since they don’t like advertising one bit. Correct?
But how do you persuade people with the right content?
If you run a blog, the secret of success isn’t limited to quality content alone, but also having a strategy that converts daily readers into active audience.
The power of active audience
What do you think would happen to a blogger who writes guest posts every week, but never captures email leads of loyal readers?
It’s obvious that there will be continual struggle to drive free traffic and make money. Does it mean that the said blogger is lazy at marketing? No, I don’t think so.
The only problem with their strategy is working hard at the wrong stuffs.
Yes, waking up every day to write quality content for your blog and to submit as a guest article is fine, but if you don’t think like a businessman, you’d fail to achieve your goals on the long run.
The power of active audience can’t be over-emphasized. All the successful bloggers who launched their blogs and won the hearts of thousands of people have ONE secret. They’re so mindful of their audience.
Day in and day out, they work hard to build an active audience, knowing that this is the only solution to getting repeat customers and ever-increasing traffic. It’s the best way to reap the benefits of content marketing.
Now, it’s time to consider the 6 ways to build an active audience with content marketing. All I ask is 5 minutes of your time. Read, ponder on the tips and take action.
So, how do you attract an avalanche of targeted audience who will like, trust and believe in whatever your website is about?
1. Be a smarter hard worker
As they say, “no hard work no glory.” It’s no longer news that hard work is the key for achieving any significant goal in life, but does it mean that all hard work pays off?
I don’t think so. I had a personal experience when I started blogging. I usually wake up by 7.00am and I’d work straight till 7.00pm or thereabout.
Did you realize that I worked for 12 hours every day? Guess what I got from all those writing, tweeting, bookmarking and celebrity gossips I involved myself in? I made no money and my blog only got less than 50 generic visitors. What a pity?
At the time, I had no idea to sell to anyone. I was merely working my butts off. In 2012, I made a decision to work smarter and reduce the long hours of work.
And if I must work 12 hours again, it must be on projects that can bring passive income or add fresh leads to my list. Don’t allow any pro blogger or internet marketer lure you into working extra hard at the wrong stuffs.
One core way to ensure that you’re working smarter is to publish fewer articles on your blog, but when you do – make it the best it can be.
If possible, create a resource article, which can be of help to people for as long as they exist. That’s the power of content marketing. Use it.
2. Value is what Google wants to rank
I know that so many website owners have built a wall in their hearts to never rely on Google, because of their weird updates.
Well, I understand how you feel and you may be right. But do you think you’re honest with yourself when you decide to ignore all that Google is doing?
Trust me; you’re being sentimental about this whole noise. How did I know? It’s simple, your content are still visible to search spider.
Did you instruct Google to stop indexing your new posts? If you didn’t, then deep within you, organic traffic is still your heartfelt desire. Correct?
So, what can you do to get more organic traffic and build an active audience – now that the rule is changing gradually? I’ll tell you.
In the earlier days of SEO, low-quality content that weren’t backed up by facts and expert’s opinion ranked higher in the search engines.
Why you should obey Google’s new rule
The old rule is that Google ranks quality content pages with many links. But today, it’s still quality content, but VALUE has been added to it.
If you want to dominate search engine result pages (SERPs), you’ll need to define what “quality content” means to you.
Seriously, it’s becoming a cliché in the blogosphere. Don’t you think we should invent a new term?
But actually, it’s not about you but your audience. I’ve argued on several occasions that quality content is a myth. What Google is after is value. Will your content help people who visit your website in any way?
Even if they pick up just one idea and decide to apply it to their own business and life, you’ve succeeded in bringing VALUE. And contrary to what SEOs are saying about keywords, you’ve to test everything yourself.
Search engines still rely on keywords and key phrases to determine the exact audience your website caters to.
You don’t expect Google to serve you with Lemons when you searched for vegetables. I spent 3 hours to write this content, and added a lot of value to help my readers and in turn earn their trust.
How much time do you spend on research, writing, marketing and reaching out to your prospects? And when they come, what other steps do you take to satisfy their thirst for VALUABLE content?
Remember, people will not visit your website because you’ve a colorful design (which is important), but they’d only come because of good and helpful information you share.
3. You’re one step away…
From where you’re right now to the high level you want to go in your online business, it takes just one step.
When potential customers (readers) visit your blog for the first time, a lot of thoughts flow through their minds.
They MUST have visited hundreds if not thousands of blogs in your niche and on several occasions, they were disappointed by the same generic and regurgitated content spree going on. It’s almost become a custom online these days.
There is room for assumptions here. Are you different from every other content marketer/blogger out there, or just a replica of someone who doesn’t care about her audience?
The one step you must take is to immediately clear all doubts that you’re not like “them.” You’re unique and value people more than the few bucks you could earn through hype.
Recognize that first time visitors on your blog are human beings, not a bunch of robots looking for a form to fill.
These people want answers to their problems and only you can make a difference in their lives. The moment you see your blog as one of those blogs; you’ve missed out because you’re pushing them away to your competitors.
Settle in your heart that in your niche, your blog is the only PLACE where the right answers can be found.
Once this becomes your mindset, you’ll put in extra effort to create valuable and informative content at all times, no matter the cost.
4. Time spent listening to others is never a waste
An important step to take to build an active audience is to listen more.
Have you ever asked yourself why God gave you two pairs of ears and one mouth? All right, I’ll tell you right away. In life, it’s more beneficial to listen more and talk less.
Until you know who you’re serving and what their needs are, you can’t easily solve them. Don’t think that hanging out at discussion boards is a waste of time.
Sure, it can be if all you do is reply new threads and spam the network.
What I normally do when I join any forum is to read the threads, jot down questions, insights and ideas which can help me attend to those persons better. With those points, I could easily create a helpful content, suitable for them.
You can’t talk and listen at the same time. So, make every time count. Read comments and find out how the real commenters added their insights. Why is it that some people even after reading your blog posts don’t leave comments or send you a feedback?
Visit Amazon to read real-time reviews from consumers.
You could even pick up content topics and ideas from those honest reviews. Amazon is the best site to get honest product reviews, which can guide your buying decisions.
For content marketing to produce good results for you, you must listen more, and talk less. When you attend Conferences, choose to be the student. Learn all you can and gradually implement the tips to grow your website.
By the way, I’m set to attend 3 Business Seminars this year. It’s an “invite only” seminar and I’m prepared to learn new things. I’ll share my experiences here. So make sure you subscribe for updates.
5. Start from scratch: Write pillar content 
“Never too old, never too bad, never too late, never too sick to start from scratch once again.” – Bikram Choudhury.
The first time I read this quote, I quickly registered a new domain name (contentmarketingup.com), asked my hosting service firm to help me with a 301 redirect from my quirky old domain name.
This has been my best decision so far.
I took this action step in 2012 and today, my blog has attracted thousands of content marketing prospects and customers.
I also redesigned my blog theme to further extend my brand identity.
I’ve made more money and gradually building my passive income assets.
Is it too late to build an active audience for your blog? No it’s not. Start by writing pillar content.
This should cover virtually everything about your blog and what you intend to build your career on. People like resource pages, which is why web design blogs are growing faster.
I’m yet to find any niche blog that grows faster than a Web and Graphic Design blog.
When you consider the fact that content marketing doesn’t involve so much monetary investment, but your time, it should motivate you to work smarter.
Pillar content will position your blog and no matter what the latest Google Panda update brings, it’ll not affect your content pages because you’ve made them stronger.
One of the reasons why so many website owners lost their top rankings and income during the Panda update was because the foundation of their blogs is weak.
Share more tips, increase article length
I hate this term: “Word count.”
Solving problems with your content is what matters. Does the length matter? Yes it does.
And I must warn you that in this new SEO era and to avoid penalties of all sorts, Google will prefer longer and practicable content (articles). And ditch the myth that readers’ attention span is small.
The truth of the matter is that if your content is helpful, people will lovingly read through without noticing that they’re almost at the ‘take away’ part.
Stop writing 300 – 400 words article. I’m not saying you should be like me and write 4000 words article, but do your best to increase the length of your posts.
There is something mysterious about longer posts that Google always find interesting.
In other words, a longer post is bound to rank higher than short posts, no matter the competition.
I’ve experimented with this, and I can tell you that 1000+ words article will please Google spider (and sometimes readers) more than a 300 – 500 words post. Have you ever linked to a 300 words blog post? Give me a break.
6. Become a media asset
It’s true that content marketing has been used by smart copywriters in the past, but it wasn’t until recently that average people (you and I) started to embrace it.
In the earlier days of internet marketing, if you want to drive thousands of buyers to your website, you’ll need to invest a huge amount of money on advertising.
Advertising is still very active in today’s internet marketing world, but why waste your money when content marketing can do the job for you.
You may decide to get 10k targeted traffic to your website in 12 hours and it’ll be done. All you’ve to do is set up an AdWord pay per click campaign, sit back and watch your website traffic go off the hook.
The question to ask you is this: what if the traffic I drive through PPC doesn’t convert into customers? You can’t be so smart – I’ve seen 3 smarter PPC marketers who lost $7,090, $9,230 and $13,500 respectively.
I wish they knew that building a media asset is the best way to grow a successful online business.
The way to become a media asset is stop chasing after the next available traffic generation technique.
Instead, focus on your core objectives, disciple your blog readers and turn them into Evangelists who can religiously promote your business and blog to their network of friends.
Fill your blog with exceptional content. Because over time, it’s going to get more valuable and prove your credibility as the go-to expert in your niche.
The more you keep producing rich and keyword targeted content, the more influence you’ll breed online.
The kind of content that persuades people to join your email list and spend their money on you – keep producing them.
It’s your own media asset because eventually, small and mid-size business owners will be knocking at your door – for your products & consulting services.
And when you work with them, automatically, you’ll earn their trust the more – leading to an active engagement over time.
There you’ve it…
What has content marketing done for you? I’ve other topics to discuss under this, but I need to hear from you first. So leave a valuable comment below and I’ll reply you as fast as I can. You’re awesome!