Business Learning Center

It is no secret that creating original content for your website is a terrific way to get your marketing messages across, establish yourself as an expert and humanize your company and its employees.

By writing articles, blogs and white papers, companies can offer a real service to their current and potential customers and clients. It is essential, though, that the content be well-written, informative and understandable for your target audience. It is worth the investment to either have an accomplished copywriter on your staff or to avail yourself of the services of a professional copywriter.

Creating meaningful content is just the first step, though. The key is delivering that content to as wide an audience as you can. Fortunately there are many online platforms for the distribution of your original content.

It will require an investment of time and money to properly market your content across multiple platforms, but that investment is often rewarded with a spectacular ROI, as increases in viewers frequently translates to increases in clients, customers and revenues.

RSS Feeds (Really Simple Syndication)

An RSS feed is a simple way to “subscribe” to a blog, the same way you would subscribe to a magazine. You can use a program called an RSS reader (Google Reader is a popular and easy-to-use example) to subscribe to blogs. Once you’ve subscribed, you don’t have to check each site individually–just fire up your RSS reader, and you’ll see all of the new content that’s been created since the last time you checked.

Twitter, Facebook MySpace and other Social Media Broadcasts

If your company has a social media account (or multiple accounts) on a service such as Twitter or Facebook, use it to announce the publication of your latest content piece. Virtually all social media accounts allow you to hyperlink directly to your online content.

If your friends or followers like the content piece, they are also likely to tell people in their networks about it, creating an ever-growing audience.

Online Articles Directories

There are a number of online articles directories where you can “publish” your articles. These sites are used by websites looking for free content. Your article may be republished in dozens of websites, but that means you will have dozens of sites with links to your website.

Social News Websites

If you have created truly useful content, social news websites are a great resource for getting your message out and driving traffic to your website. The “general news” sites post news stories on a wide variety of topics.

Posting your article on Digg, Reddit, Propeller or Slashdot not only gives you a chance to broadcast your article to a wide audience, it also gives you the opportunity to get a link back to your website. A well written and entertaining article can go “viral,” attracting thousands, if not tens of thousands, of visitors to your site.

The social news sites also give you the opportunity to comment on other articles- ones related to the subject matter of your article. This is another great way of driving traffic to your site and getting your company’s message out to a larger audience.

Guest Columns

If you run a business, then you are almost certain to possess expertise in your field. There are many industry-related websites that are dying for content and would be happy to publish your articles as a guest or expert columnist.

This gives you direct access to an audience of prospective clients/customers.

The key to becoming a guest columnist is to make life as easy as possible for the host site:

• Provide a list of story ideas you could be writing about. Don’t just give a headline. Provide a detailed synopsis.
• Provide samples of other articles you’ve written.
• Give a detailed description of your particular expertise and welcome the site editor to suggest story ideas for you.

By serving as a guest columnist, you also get the benefit of any “broadcasting” of the article done by the host site.

Commenting

Most blogs allow for readers to “comment.” This can be a terrific way to get the word out about your content and your company. Find the most popular blogs that cover areas where your company has expertise. If you feel that your content can supplement the information contained in a blog or provide a different take on the information contained in the blog, then you can make a brief comment, linking your comment to your company’s original content.

Answering

Many social media sites, like LinkedIn, give members the opportunity to ask questions. If you join an industry group or interest group regularly review the questions written by group members. If you believe that your content can assist in answering a particular question, don’t hesitate to provide an answer with a link to your original content.

In Conclusion

Well-written original content tells the world that you are an expert in your field. By giving something of value to your audience, you enhance your company’s brand as well as your personal brand. Once you’ve attracted a wide audience, you then have the opportunity to market to that audience or to sell directly to that audience.

At Blue Fountain Media, we provide copywriting and content strategy services for clients in a variety of industries. If you are interested in learning more about our copywriting services or any of our other marketing services, please give us a call at 212.260.1978.