If Content is King, What Are SME’s Afraid Of?

We have heard that content is king ever since the dawning of the commercial Internet. We hear it because it makes sense and, for the most part, is completely true. Sure there are other techniques and tactics to get someone to a website but sites don’t convert if the content on the site stinks.

You can get a site ranked because of incredible link building efforts but when the visitor gets to the site and the content doesn’t match the ranking expectation (in other words most people think a top ranked site by Google should be a good well written and well thought out site) then all that effort is for naught.

When I talk with companies that are considered SMB’s (small and medium business) and SME’s (small and medium enterprises) I know exactly how to make them wish they had never decided to talk to me. All I have to do is mention content creation.

Nothing makes the color drain out of a marketing executive’s face more than the realization that they need to generate strong, high quality content consistently in all online channels in order to truly success in today’s online marketing environment.

While this may sound overly simplified I tell you it really isn’t. You see you really only need to do three things on a regular (not even daily basis) to succeed in the online marketing and social media marketing world.

• Create new web pages – Regardless of how “boring” you claim your product is there is always something else you can say about it. You can tell about different applications of it. You can tell of customer success stories. What you need to do is keep building your website’s depth and breadth of content. Why? The search engines like it and your customers will to.

• Blog – The age old mantra of “We don’t need a blog” is now an age old and it is worn very thin. To have a blog that is part of your website is actually an excellent way to keep your site updated and fresh for your visitors and the search engines. What’s that? You can’t write? You don’t have the staff for it? Then outsource it. I’d be happy to tell you how this can all be created and managed for much less than the cost of a full time employee and with a high level of professionalism.

• Listen – I have said this before and will say it until the day I die, you need to have your corporate ear to the ground to identify trends, troubles, triumphs and tricksters. Use a tool like Trackur (full disclosure; I am a representative for Trackur and the link IS NOT an affiliate link) to monitor your online reputation and overall online condition for less than $7 a day.

There are more options like social media but for now you just need to know that sitting back and doing nothing will help you to lose everything. There are many unemployed and hungry marketers who would take your place in a heartbeat if you sat on your hands and watched the new marketing world order roll by without any action.

Is it difficult to generate good content? Sometimes. Is it difficult to do it consistently? Only if you haven’t planned ahead. Is it wise to just let it go? No. Are there options for you including full time help or outsource options? Yes.

The thing is, content can only be king in your company if you give it the crown. Otherwise you may end up playing the court jester in executive committee meetings because the competition will be cleaning up royally in the marketplace while you wait for this Internet thing to go away.

Tagged as: Business, Google, Internet Marketing, Search engine optimization, Social Media, Trackur, Web search engine, Website