Content marketing is becoming more complex every day, but it’s also becoming more and more accessible. Just a few years ago, it was virtually required that you get professional help to set up a website, but now you can do it in just a few minutes and end up with completely satisfactory results. This has resulted in an explosion in the number of people using the web to promote themselves, their portfolios, their hobbies, or their businesses. Untold hundreds of thousands of people are out there creating websites and doing what they can to drive traffic towards them. There are a lot of ways to drive traffic to your website, but none of them will result in you earning fans unless you have something for people to see when they get there. In short, you need great content in order to earn traffic and repeat visitors.
It’s normally recommended that new website owners spend a few weeks or months creating really great content, and then start to worry more about traffic. Perhaps you have some great content on your website now, but still don’t have the traffic. What can you do to start marketing that content and get in front of people who can turn into repeat visitors and customers?
Build Relationships with Influencers
It’s often said that it’s not what you know, but whom you know that really counts. That’s absolutely true when it comes to content marketing. For example, suppose you were good friends with someone who had hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. Even if their followers weren’t necessarily in your target market, you could certainly be helped by having your friend share some of your content. Most people aren’t fortunate enough to be best friends with internet celebrities, and that means you may need to build relationships before you can benefit. It’s important to be careful how you approach this, however, because people who have large audiences are used to being approached by people and companies who just want help with nothing in return. You’ll want to engage with these influencers and their audience members for a long time before you ask for something.
Conduct Interviews
If you aren’t willing, or can’t afford to put the time into engaging with influencers for many months, there is a shortcut to getting their help. Conducting interviews of influencers in your market can quickly result in them sharing pieces of your content, following you on social media, and respecting what you do for the industry you serve. While interviews certainly help you, it’s also very helpful and flattering to those that you interview. You’ll want to make sure that you have a platform to conduct these interviews, and it’s usually best to start with smaller names and then work your way up.
Create Free Guides
Is there a particular piece of software, web-based or otherwise, that people entering your industry need to use frequently? Even if there’s not a specific piece of software, you could probably find a topic that could be helped by a guide. For example, if you sell lawn maintenance products, there may be specific edging techniques that would help your customers do their jobs. Creating handy guides is a great way to market your content because they spread so quickly. Hiring a content marketing agency can help you to execute these and other similar strategies.
