It's a question that is asked all the time.
People see big companies like Apple and Buzzfeed creating constant unique content. Then people see those companies making millions off content marketing and think you must need thousands of dollars to get started. So...
What about the little guys? The entrepreneurs or small businesses of few employees? Can content marketing work for those businesses?
The answer: YES, it will be one the best investments to make as a business owner living in the age of modern marking.
What Is Content Marketing?
When you hear “content marketing” you’re probably thinking of blogs, articles, and maybe social media.
But they're is so much more to it.
The definition of content marketing is more than just the format of content.
Content marketing is a long-term strategy that uses content (in a variety of formats) to build a deeper relationship with your audience, grab their attention, improve engagement, and improve brand awareness.
Content marketing gives consistent value to your audience — and Google
Spending time to make an informative website for and fill out your social profiles is essential to your success in online marketing strategy for small business owners. But once your viewers/followers have seen your content, what will make them return to your website or social platform. What is the ongoing value?
When your business produces and distribute content consistently, you are also giving your audience value, and you also show search engines like Google that your content is new and updated, relevant and valuable to the topic. basically, you give yourself a boost in the search rankings which generates more lead for your business.
The takeaway here is simple. If you provided something useful or helpful to the table instead of just shoving another internet product down peoples face, your audience will appreciate and value your information. And that means repeated and more business for you!
Here's why you need to start content marketing:
The saying “Content is King” couldn't be anymore true.
Google and other search engines platforms heavily FAVOR “constant” content because it keeps people coming back (making search engines platforms more money). Furthermore, when your business starts putting out “constant” content, then it will have a higher chance of ranking and often boosted in search results.
2 tips before you consider starting content marketing:
You will need to fully commit to content marketing. A majority of companies and business do not fully commit to keeping up with their content. This is a very important factor for ranking in google's algorithm. I would say most people are wasting their time (and everyone else’s, too) when they aren't properly creating new content.
You should know that you will need to a spend solid amount of time promoting the content. It is a common misconception that if you have amazing content, people will find it. I wish it was that simple, however, in today's society you need great content and need a way to promote content.
In this article, I’m going to explain the benefits of content marketing and how to maximize the growth with SEO. Also, you will see the success stories of small business that blew up online.
Benefits of Content Marketing for Small Business
So, why would you even want to consider content marketing? What should i expect when i start?
The traffic for your business will increased almost 800%
Yes, your traffic will greatly increase and you will see results.
Your rank will be higher in the SERP’s
If you don't have content if will be very difficult to get to a top spot on Google or Bing. Content and SEO is needed to rank because it will tell Google (or whatever search engine you're promoting on) what your “business or service” is about from targeted keywords.
Establishing authority for small business owners and generating leads
If your content is good and your services are great then you will be a industry leader. People will be constantly seeing your content on the web and will generate more sales for the business.
HubSpot found that businesses with blogs that start content marketing will generate 126% more leads than those without. More content = More leads.
Receive big benefits for a small investment.
Content Marketing Institute found that “While content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing, it generates more than three times as many leads.” You can create content on a very small budget and still get results.
You will get all of this and much more, even if it is a small business, if you fully commit to content marketing.
However, don't think it will be an overnight success — it’s not going to be easy or quick. Some believe it takes at least 6 months to see results from a content marketing initiative.
Don’t get discouraged, many people who commit to content marketing can quickly see success in a week or two.
If you know how to maximize content with SEO, your business will be successful.
How To Maximize Your Content Marketing Authority As a Small Business With SEO
First, SEO is short for (Search engine optimisation) and could be defined as the process of improving the position that your website appears at in the "organic" search result of Google, Bing, etc.
There are multiple SEO factors for getting your business ranked. Most professionals agree that the top 3 ranking factors that impact SEO are:
- Content
- Links
- Knowledge of Marketing
SEO is needed of the good of the user. If the user is searching, selecting, or reading your content. These technical SEO components are there in order to help the user and promote your content.
So why do i need SEO if i'm already doing content marketing?
First, the connection between SEO and content is electric. When they are put together your rank with dramatically increase, especially when starting from scratch.
SEO is content marketing and content marketing is about SEO.
Please take away this one very important fact from reading this - know that you're in SEO if your not a content marketer. You're not a content marketer, unless in SEO.
If you only want to identify your marketing strategy as one then that's fine, but you still are going to need both to be successful.
Your SEO campaign will fail if you do not have content marketing. Your content will be seen by few people unless you have integrated SEO.
You should want to make your content marketing needs SEO, and SEO needs content marketing. These should not be in separate categories for the two. An SEO specialist needs to know about content marketing, and vice versa.
But it all comes back to content.
SEO has demands for updated and consistent output. Remember Google favors new content, and they have for a long time. If you already know SEO , you know that new content gets rapidly viewed (by google), and will place higher in the SERPs than older content. The new content shows up on a site with authority, you’ll have a boost to the page.
SEO becomes broad. The way to apply SEO in a broader way is to have its needs met by the fulfilment of content. Consequently, the only way for the growth from content marketing to thrive is to apply SEO strategy in the process.This is the coming together of SEO and content marketing.
Simply put — SEO makes demands. Content marketing fulfills those demands.
SEO states the requirements. Content marketing fulfills them.
Using Targeted Keywords To Grow Your Business
With what you know about SEO and content marketing, you need to think about how your targeted audience is going to search for the terms related to your business, and ensure the terms that your audience is searching for is on the pages of your website's business.
Example, if you run a auto repair business, your website content should have keywords or phrases that people may search for, like "auto mechanics repair in phoenix", or related topics.
Google Adwords Keyword Planner, Is a very effective SEO business tool gather new keywords ideas, see how competitive those words or phrase are, and see the cost if you were going to start a Paid Search Campaign vs SEO.
This is designed to help prospective advertisers identify the most relevant keywords for their chosen market, but it is also very helpful when starting content marketing or SEO. The tool is even more helpful if you're trying to start a business in a targeted niche.
Once you have determined the keywords for you want to use for content marketing, ensure that they show up in the body of your pages, also in the metadata of your page, which is the unseen data that gives the spiders key info on your page.
Why Your Online Business Needs Content Marketing And SEO
The internet has changed the game in terms of marketing. Today, mostly everyone has access to the internet - whether that be from mobile devices, tablets, or computers. Also, the majority of people are online using the internet are either:
A. Searching for a problem they need solved
(you/your business or company being the solution)
(you/your business or company promoting your services)
That being said, it's still shocking to think how most business owners don't see the “need” or “haven’t” promoted online from SEO or create content. So, if you're a small business owner or entrepreneur, establishing an online presence is key to success for the future of your business.
How to start
The best way to begin is to find a “niche” for your business using the Google Adwords Keyword Planner. From the keyword planner you’ll get other ideas for new keywords to add into your content and also on words to use for SEO.
Then the identified keywords will start ranking your content for your business, from here it's about consistency and data analysis.
First, after you uploaded your content marketing article make sure that the keywords they show up in the body of your pages, along with in the metadata of your page from SEO, which is the unseen data that gives the spiders key info on your page.
Second, about 1-2 months of your content marketing article has been uploaded, use Google Search Console. This SEO business tool allows for you to see what keywords your article is ranking for and what keywords are almost ranking for.
Content Marketing And SEO Strategy
Using Google Search Console, the keywords ranking on the second page should be added into your SEO and Content marketing article. Why? This will allow your page to rank higher in search results and boost the ranking of other related keyword.
Hopefully you're ready to begin and see the importance of content marketing and SEO
So, what are some more steps to creating a content marketing strategy for your business?
5 Simple Steps:
- Creating content
- Promoting your content (social media, PPC, etc.)
- Analyzing the results
- Refining your approach/article based on the data
- Repeat
However, before you even create your first piece of content as a small business owner, I highly recommend creating content a marketing plan. To create an effective business plan, you need to figure out:
Who you plan on writing content for (buyer persona or business)
What your content will be about (niche)
How often you’ll create content for your business(create about once a week)
What keywords/phrases your customers are searching for in your business
What is the goal is for your business (brand awareness, traffic, conversions, etc.)
Overall, as a small business owner doing SEO and content marketing know what you're committing too. Using SEO to maximize your business will help speed up the slow process.
SEO and content marketing is one of the most powerful ways to grow starting a small business from scratch. As a small business owner, i highly recommend starting today.
For examples of other local small businesses using these exact SEO Content Marketing strategies please keep reading.
I’m sure you’ve seen their TV commercials 1000’s of times. Express Flooring is the largest provider of carpet, tile, laminate, hardwood, vinyl and stone flooring in Arizona. Our stores in Phoenix and Tucson provide flooring samples for our loyal customers. Express Flooring is Arizona's preferred choice for flooring because of the substantially discounted prices, world class service, and free lifetime installation warranty we provide with our products. We also provide next day installation.
This type of SEO Content Marketing has helped Express Flooring reach page 1 of Google for over 700 different search terms that all generate new business opportunities for Express Flooring. Here is an example article written by me! 
