It is becoming increasingly important to develop unique, valuable content that lives on your website. When you regularly publish blog posts, white papers, articles, speeches, research studies and other content that appeals to your target prospects, you accomplish two objectives:
- Boost SEO – Every piece of content on your site is another chance to be indexed in search engines. For instance, if you write a post called “How to Hire an Accountant” and someone searches Google for “how to hire an accountant,” that person may end up on your site.
- Build Trust – Having useful content on your site helps web visitors through the buying process. The more they use your company as a source for education, the more they will grow to trust you and turn to you when they need services.
Content expert Sonja Jefferson explains in her valuable content blog that your material can be split into two categories:
- Stock – Long-lasting content with true remarkable value such as research reports and ebooks.
- Flow – Everyday content meant for community-type conversation. Examples include blog posts and tweets.
At Hinge, our stock and flow differ considerably. Some of our stock pieces, such as Spiraling Up and our professional services research studies, require a great deal of research and take months or years to complete. In contrast, our flow takes on more of a casual tone and is meant to convey our knowledge in smaller chunks.
As a result, we know our stock content incredibly well. When we are networking (in person or online), we often cite our research and other content. Having this body of unique content adds great value to any conversation and generates quick credibility.
If you are interested in buidling a high performance website, start creating content today. Create a blog and get writing! And begin to think about a long-term piece of work, such as an e-book, that you can promote over time. Content marketing is always going to generate interest and credibility. The sooner you start creating, the sooner your website activity will spark.
