In Content We Trust

December 27, 2011 by

Consumers have always sought information to help them make better buying decisions.

Prior to social media, content was distributed via traditional media outlets – radio, television, and newspapers.

According to a recent study by Pew Research Center, Internet search is the leading source of information for consumers making decisions with respect to local businesses. Surprisingly, traditional newspapers ranked second – ahead of word-of-mouth and social media.

The message is clear.

While buyers may trust the advice of their friends, the majority will seek out credible content to validate that trust.

Evergreen Content is Attractive and Sustainable

Evergreen content is information that will stand the test of time – being just as relevant well into the future as it is today. How long depends upon the nature of the information.

Years ago, encyclopedias were a revered source of evergreen content. Whether you purchased them as a set, or one volume at a time to ease your budget, you knew that owning a complete set meant you were set – for life.

Content with a long shelf life is something you should be creating and publishing online for those that are searching the web for your expertise. This is the type of content that makes you an authority with your potential customers and Google.

During holiday periods such as the one we just experienced, evergreen content works to attract traffic to your site – even though you may not be actively working.

Thus, if your resources for content marketing are limited, you will be wise to focus your efforts on creating evergreen content that works to attract new customers to your business where the majority of them are searching – online.

Of course, accomplishing this on an interactive site that you own ensures the legacy of your work.

Fresh Content is Relevant and Renewable

The challenge with being an authority is the same as that of a celebrity – you have to occasionally do something notable to remind your community that you are still relevant.

If evergreen content is encyclopedic, standing confidently in the background on the foundation of its earned authority, then fresh content is the magazine that dances in the foreground where it is sure to be noticed.

As a content marketer, you need evergreen and fresh content. They each serve a purpose. They are both attractive and engaging in their own way – one for authority and the other for relevance.

Magazines have a short shelf life, yet they are voraciously consumed for their relevancy. Use them to engage your audience with your more valuable evergreen content.

People may not necessarily trust what they read in magazines and tabloids, but they cannot resist the headlines, pictures, and stories.

As a small business that is also a media company, you can take that and dial it down to the standards of your industry to engage new customers with your timeless expertise to earn their trust.

Leave a comment below or share this with your community with any of the share buttons below – or with those on the little red bar at the bottom of this page.  

Until next time,  Jeff

 Photo Credit: heathbrandon

A Little Blogging Secret

November 30, 2011 by

A belief that many small businesses share is that delivering exceptional work will naturally attract everything necessary to support their business.

This is also one of the secrets of blogging – stay in the game, strive to create valuable, innovative and inspiring content, and everything else will fall into place.

Hardly a day goes by when I cannot point to one particular article that drives more than 50% of the traffic to this site. It’s really quite astonishing – and a function of social sharing.

Logic tells us that when you post an article your audience consumes it – and hopefully responds.

Based upon my experience, that is rarely true.

When you consistently create useful content – information that is valuable for your target audience, it seemingly rises to the surface when its time is right – effectively introducing you, your site, and your business to a new audience.

The little secret is that blogging is not a linear game.

One home run is not going to win the game. You have to keep pounding out base hits, grind out more yardage, and sink as many putts as possible.

The Secret

Over the last few weeks, this article on protecting your Facebook account from hackers has generated an enormous amount of traffic for me – one that I wrote 4 months ago.

Why? I have no idea. It could be the result of posting it on my son’s Facebook wall after he and a bunch of his college buddies were hacked.

In other words, the secret of blogging is about consistency – creating content whose value will eventually find its day.

More recently, this article on asking your customers the tough questions has generated hundreds of clicks for several days running. It was an article I was particular proud of when I wrote it, but it produced very little traffic at the time.

My Analysis

For you and me, blogging is not just about delivering the news – that’s what the big media outlets do.

For small businesses, blogging is more about planting seeds.

What is cool is those seeds have multiple lives – germinating again and again as they are shared on the social web.

Perennial Flowers

What is awesome and cool is usually transitory – it quickly fades.  As a former landscape architect and contractor, we created some amazing floral displays with annuals flowers.

They were indeed awesome – but only for a few weeks.

As a blogger, you are more interested in planting perennials – a floral show that comes back again and again.  

Annual flowers are like a one hit wonder – they have their day and quickly fade.

Perennial flowers deliver value for years to come – and your evergreen blog content does the same.

Gardeners know they cannot predict the weather, any more than you can predict the tastes, needs, and desires of your community. That’s why the foundation of your blog has to be perennial – delivering content that conceivably has value today and long into the future.

There is nothing wrong with seizing the day – capturing a relevant moment for your audience.

Though the secret to blogging is building a sustainable digital asset that delivers value again and again – often when you least expect it.

Leave a comment below or share this with your community with any of the share buttons below – or with those on the little red bar at the bottom of this page.  

Until tomorrow,  Jeff

Photo Credit: antonychammond