There are definitely some things I’ve learned in almost 2 decades of online marketing, ranging from tracking conversions and click through rates to setting up analytics and advertising campaigns to marketing and SEO for hundreds of clients and projects. But there really is one, single equation to keep in mind when looking to boost your online business – well, equation may be the wrong term in the traditional sense since, according to Google an equation is:
a statement that the values of two mathematical expressions are equal (indicated by the sign =).
But, looking at this from Google’s other definition:
the process of equating one thing with another.
then this makes complete sense. The equation I’m referring to is that writing interesting content brings more traffic.
Whether your goal is to drive more sales, get more sign ups on your website, more donations, or just to read your current theory and see your latest pictures of your cat, then you must start with interesting content.
Of course there are hundreds of tools, theories, ideas, tracking, sources of everything to help you get ahead and see how you’re doing and what you should do differently, but mostly, you don’t need those to get started and make a difference.
People like to throw the term “silver bullet” around in looking for how to win the internet. And we all like to say there isn’t one. But in truth, there is, and it’s to write interesting content. Interesting to someone, somewhere, sometime.
I see the data to prove this every day. When a client writes something interesting, we see a bump in traffic and when you write more content, those bumps build on each other and increase overall traffic – much like every drop of water helps float the boat. It’s the most simple equation for online marketing.
The nice thing is that it’s true for whatever you do – your blog, your store (online or brick and mortar), your emails, your advertising, your guest posts, your comments, your titles and meta descriptions. What ever you do, do this:
Help solve a problem.
Add good descriptions of what your product is and why you need it.
Answers questions that you got when talking to a customer on the phone.
Show real world, user benefits and how your product will save them time, money or some other pain point.
Tell success stories of others using your product.
Tell why they need you.
Tell why you need them.
Create
Respond
Help
Be honest
Be truthful
Start writing
As you start writing more and more, you’ll get it, like Bill Murray at the end of Scrooged. Then see how your site really is like an online dating site and start writing. Once you get the hang of interesting content, then you can expand and grow and start utilizing the hundreds of tools that exist to help enhance and promote your content. If you need more ideas or help, contact me; I’d love to chat.
