Posts Tagged ‘Content Marketing’
Blog Marketing & SEO: A Recipe For SEO Success At SES SF
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It’s been several years since I have seen TopRank CEO Lee Odden contribute to the panel ‘SEO Through Blogs & Feeds,’ so I was eager to sit in on this session to close out my first day at this year’s SES San Francisco.
Joining Odden on his panel, moderated by Craig Macdonald, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Covario, was PRESSfeed President Sally Falkow.
As Odden states, creation and promotion of a successful business blog is just as simple and just as complex as planning a friendly dinner party. How, exactly? More on that shortly.
While Odden opened the session, let’s begin with insight from Falkow as her remarks help expand the notion of traditional blogging.
“According to Google,” Falkow states, “a blog is simply a webpage with a feed.”
While someone reading a blog would certainly not see a repurposed, subjective news release with the same viewpoint as an objective, personal blog post – the point is succinct. Content marketing is bigger than blogs.
Content, especially content that carries SEO value, does not have to be a blog. SEO-focused content can be made up of everything from articles to product info. From alerts to recipes.
Content Marketing Optimization – SES SF 2010
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TopRank Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden gave a solo presentation at Search Engine Strategies 2010 on content marketing optimization. Following is a summary of Lee’s comprehensive presentation including 10 essential steps for your organization to achieve success.
The core of any search or social media marketing program focuses on content. But what exactly is content marketing? It’s creating and distributing relevant content to attract, acquire and engage customers which you know detailed information about.
It’s different than search – where you’re seeking in-demand phrases and creating content. In content marketing, which grew out of the B2B marketing space, you’re developing personas. In addition to this you should activate the intersection of search and content marketing.
Customers are expecting more. It’s not enough anymore just to publish features/benefits and expect someone to buy something. First they search, then they ask their friends, then they purchase. Sales cycles are getting longer and consumers are getting smarter.
Content is why search exists – to organize the world’s information. Content is also an outcome of social interactions. And, search engines are indexing much of that social content.
Smarter Ways to Get Content Ideas for B2B Blogs
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One of the most common challenges of business blogging is sourcing content. The range of things that can interrupt content creation are important obstacles to overcome because without content there is little reason for readers to return. Blogs are fairly easy to start and if you’ve been a reader of this blog, chances are pretty good that you have started your own blog (personal or for biz) at some point in time. Many of the companies TopRank Marketing consults with have either started business blogs and need help or want to start a new blog to advance a variety of business goals. In fact, in our blogging survey earlier this year, 95% of respondents indicated they incorporate blogs as part of their search engine optimization efforts. Many others use blogs for public relations, customer service, product support and recruiting.
Whatever the reason for starting a blog, long time content creation with B2B blogs requires creativity, social participation and a smart feedback loop. Here are a few specific ways to generate content ideas for business to business blogs:
Content Marketing: Definitions of Curation & Context
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Companies are realizing the value in “brands as publishers” and are making real commitments to the creation of content in their online marketing mix. It’s no longer enough to provide fundamental features and benefits information about products and services to succeed competitively online. Consumers and of course, business buyers, seek additional information, resources and others to connect with on the topics of interest to them. Some companies choose a pure creation strategy and find it to be a formidable undertaking, especially creating unique and valuable content over a long period of time.
Within the field of content marketing, curation is becoming a popular topic of discussion. Blending a mix of new content with the filtering and management of other useful information streams is a productive and manageable solution for providing prospective customers a steady stream of high quality and relevant content. Pure creation is demanding. Pure automation doesn’t engage. Content curation can provide the best of both.
As I am prone to do with topics of interest, I reached out to a few industry thought leaders to get their take on defining content curation and where it fits within the mix in an online marketing program: