The recent launch of the new ChatGPT integration into Microsoft’s Bing search engine has roused quite a few feathers among digital marketers, especially the SEO (search engine optimization) experts.
Some are predicting the end of SEO, people have been predicting the demise of SEO since the 90s. Guess their crystal ball was a bit faulty, as SEO is still around today, and has never been more important!
In fact, marketers are starting to even prioritize SEO over paid media. SEO has evolved over the years to meet the demands of changing search algorithms by major search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and of course Bing.
Being the first search engine to roll out an integrated solution that ties ChatGPT into its search results page, it definitely will lead the next evolution of SEO. When Google introduced rich snippets back in 2009, people have feared that nobody will ever need to click over to the actual websites anymore since they can get the answer to their query directly on the SERPs (search engine results page).
Again, that did not happen, all it did was improve the user experience of users on the SERPs. If there is valuable information on your web page, you can be sure people are going to click over to find out more.
I believe it will be true for the Ai search results that we will soon see in all search engines. The Ai will simply make information more digestible at first glance, some people might be satisfied with a summarised answer, however, the serious searchers will still click over to your web page proper.
If anything, this is an even clearer sign of the importance of SEO and content. The future of SEO will be even brighter as businesses scramble to optimize their websites for the latest Ai search trend, failing to do so will only mean an even more brutal loss of organic traffic to competitors who have optimized their pages well.
There will be changes, there will be loss of traffic, but only if you have not been paying attention to the constant evolution of search engine optimization trends.
Stay vigilant, pay more attention to SEO, and your content marketing efforts will pay you back in folds. That was my 2 cents on the next evolution of SEO, what do you think? Reach out to me if you would like to continue the conversation.
Amid the devastation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic more than a year ago, humanity has adapted to a new normal of doing things. Seeing that physical activities are heavily limited in this pandemic stricken era, many activities have manifested itself online.
When you look at the chaos that COVID-19 has brought to the world from a different angle, perhaps you will see a silver lining in all the gloom and doom. If anything, the pandemic has hastened the adoption of digital technology for many industries that were otherwise slow to adapt, and adopt.
New business models have sprung up among the ashes of our devastated economic landscape. Today, we see eateries of all sizes offering delivery services, once face-to-face activities such as education and fitness training, have also transitioned to online modes of execution.
End users, consumers have also become more tech-, and internet savvy as the new normal we live in requires basic activities such as searching for, and ordering food an online activity.
In today's business landscape, one would really wonder why any business owner would still not have their own online presence, and still rely fully on free platforms and social media platforms only for their business.
Today we are are going to be talking about the 8 reasons that businesses should have a website.
A website is the best way to communicate with your customers, and marketing your products and services to them, even though you are a small business. As mentioned above, the internet has become a major way for people to find products and services, and your company should be present, and visible to continue to stay competitive.
If you have a website, people will find you, and when they do, you want them to be interested; and when they are interested, you want them to make a purchase or at least contact you. Your business website can be the first stepping-stone in a long and rewarding relationship with your customers.
Your website is the first impression to your customers, and prospects. It's the first chance to show them you know what you are doing. It's also the first step to earn their trust, so you can continue doing business with them. You need to get this right, or risk losing out to your competitors.
If there was only one reason that any business worth its salt needs a website, it would be:
A website is your online sales representative that never takes a day off. That’s right. If you have an excellent website, it is always working for you, 24/7.
However, there are many more benefits to having a business website. Now let us look into the 8 reasons your business should have a website:
1. A website helps your business be found online
Since we have already established that people are primarily using the internet to search for everything online, what are the chances of your business being found online, if you don't even have a website? The answer should be pretty obvious, none.
You may argue that you have a social media page or profile, and that your business can still be found online through those channels. However, those online properties are owned by a third party, which means you have no control over your online presence.
Your page or profile could be banned, hijacked, or shutdown without warning, rendering years of effort moot. Also, social media channels are not a good representation of your brand, we will talk more about branding later.
On the other hand, a website is a great way to for businesses to make use of the internet, and the huge traffic of users that surf the internet daily. You can easily spread your business to a wider audience by using a website, as your customers, and prospects who are searching for products, and services that you provide can now find your business.
Business websites are not limited to the big players in the industry. In fact, websites give the small business owner a fighting chance.
2. A website shows potential customers what you do
Think of your business website as a portfolio of your work, or products and services that you offer. Making your business searchable online is only the first step. But, it’s not enough to just be found online, you need to represent your business in context—looking as good as it can.
Why does looking good online matter? Simply, it's because your website is your shop front, and everyone knows first impressions are important. This is even more important for your online presence, since we lack human interactivity on the internet.
The best you can provide customers online is a presentable website, and pleasant experience when they visit your website. You will soon realize the importance of website design in building trust, with your target audience, which we will discuss next.
3. Build trust with customers
Let's take a step back, and be fair to ourselves, and our customers. How much would you trust a business that does not even have a decent website?
Personally, it takes away major points when I cannot find a decent website for the business I am looking for. To me it just spells out in capital letters, UNPROFESSIONAL. Let's be serious here, you would dress up, make sure your hair is properly set before you even step out the door, right?
So, if you are serious about running your business, then why the heck would you not think that it needs to be represented in the best way it can, in order to make an impactful first impression on anyone who visits it? Having a professional website represent your business online would definitely boost your company's credibility.
Oh, I was assuming you had a website for your business, if you don't, then I believe you can kiss that first impression goodbye, as your prospect or even existing customer may think twice, and look for your competitors instead.
Now, consider this, you are searching for a business, and you find this professionally designed website with all the information you were hoping to find. How do you feel? I'm betting you would feel great about the business, and maybe even a little impressed if their website is really amazing.
So what do you think? Would you trust a business without a website, or a poorly put together page, that's supposed to pass off as a company website. Or would you trust a business with a professional-looking, informative website? Which do you think would provide a better experience for yourself as a customer? Let's move on to the next reason, creating a better customer experience with your website.
4. Create a better customer experience
Customers today are demanding, don't believe it? Observe your own behavior. When you are in the customer's shoes, do you think you are accommodating or demanding towards the business you are patronizing?
We all want to have a pleasant experience when dealing with a business, whether it is shopping at the supermarket or shopping online. The moment something doesn't go smoothly for us, we get all emotional, and would probably stop with our purchase intent, or worse, we may resort to sharing the unpleasant experience we had with friends and family. No prizes for guessing what happens to a business' reputation once the latter happens.
So what makes up a good customer experience online?
Let’s look at the online store. A good online store is designed to be easy to use and navigate. The store should be easy to find, whether it’s through a search engine, or a link on the website of a partner.
Well, you could start with having a pleasant looking website. Good navigation helps a lot to allow visitors to easily explore the entire website. Having quality content (blog post, news etc.) to keep the interest of visitors is also crucial, if not, people would just bounce away from your website, as quickly as a basketball bounces off the ground.
The website should also be easy to find, whether it’s through a search engine or links from social media, and partner websites. In fact, social media marketing is a great way to drive more traffic to your website.
So, make sure to have a business website that has important information people are looking for (product, company and contact information, other useful content that brings value to visitors), easy to navigate, while having a professional look and feel. You may reach out to me to understand more about content marketing, and how it can benefit your business.
A good customer experience would eventually lead to an increase in sales, and lead generation as we'll talk about next.
5. Enhance your lead generation capacity
Having a website can also increase your and promote your business on a large scale. The reason is simple, websites are accessible globally with no restrictions of traditional brick and mortar stores, or traveling capabilities of your sales people.
It can expand the dimensions of how your business operates, and grow it by several folds, by reaching audiences that were previously out of reach. By bringing your business online, you are no longer limited by local markets, as you now have access to even more opportunities from an international market.
If you really work on it, you can even use your website to make your business into a global brand. The possibilities are limitless.
6. Lower your advertising costs
In the past, you might have used expensive print and display advertising to reach your audience. Whether it's a print ad in local publications, or billboards, or even TV and radio ads, these channels of advertising are expensive, especially if you have a small audience, or a small budget.
By having a business website, you open the floodgates to the millions of traffic on the world wide web. You can get traffic organically by using SEO (search engine optimization), social media posts or you can use paid advertising.
Whether you go the organic, or paid route, either channel will save you thousands of advertising dollars monthly, as organic traffic doesn't cost you any advertising fees, and digital advertising is relatively cheap compared to traditional advertising channels.
Do reach out to me if you would like to learn more about SEO, and paid advertising.
If you are a small business, then your website is the best outlet to update existing, and potential customers with the latest sales, news, and promotions, which we will discuss next.
7. Having a website gives businesses the opportunity to easily update their visitors on the latest sales, news, and promotions
Even though there are free social media channels where you can also post sales, news, and promotions, there are a few drawbacks if you fully rely on social media for your online presence and digital marketing.
For starters, you do not own the social media platforms, and are subject to their terms and conditions. You risk losing years of hard work building up your business' profile on social media if it decides that you have violated their policies and bans your business profile.
You are not in control of the social media platform, as such you cannot structure the pages, information, and even user interface to match your brand. The platform's own branding would overshadow your branding efforts.
A business website gives you full control, and autonomy to post anything, and run any campaign you so please without the risk of getting shutdown.
You are free to post as frequently as you want, and you can choose the best location to showcase your latest promotions, such prime "real-estate" is usually off limits on third party platforms.
You can optimize the site structure to make finding relevant information easy, instead of having to scroll endlessly just to locate a news article that was posted a week ago.
Don't get me wrong, social media platforms are great digital marketing channels, but it serves you better as that, a marketing channel to complement your website, instead of being the main online presence for your business.
This is especially true if you plan to build a brand for yourself online, build it using your own website instead of someone else's. We will dive deeper into branding next.
8. A website can help businesses build a brand
We have gone through 7 reasons you should have a website for your business so far. If all the above does not convince you, then perhaps this reason alone is powerful enough to change your mind.
People love brands, that includes you and me. Now, have you ever seen any major brand that you like that does not have its own branded business website? What if Apple didn't have its own website, and relied solely on social media profiles for its entire web presence? As a potential customer, you probably would not be too convinced in the brand, and may even think that the company is not serious about their business.
What if GrabFood, Food Panda, or AirBnB relied solely on social media to sell its products, and services? Would the brand still be as memorable, and convincing? Would you remember the social media platform's brand better, or the various business brands more?
Building a brand for your business requires all the above elements, from providing a good customer experience, to instilling confidence in customers, and providing the latest news, promotions, and useful content to your target audience.
You probably wouldn't remember McDonald's all too well if it were just a small counter inside of KFC selling burgers. and fries now, would you?
Having a business website allows your brand to be more memorable by providing the type of engagement your brand stands for. Business owners that use a website have found that brand recognition and retention are higher, and can usually outperform their competitors dramatically.
We have gone through the 8 reasons your business needs a website above. I hope it has provided you with a better understanding of the role a website plays for your business in today's market landscape. I sincerely believe that having a website benefits all businesses.
It doesn't matter whether you are a local business, or a small business that's tight on cash flow, having a website is an integral part of your digital marketing strategy; and what better, and faster way to build brand awareness today than via your own website? However, if you're still not convinced, and have questions you would like to ask, or perhaps you would like to look for a web designer to build your business website, reach out to me via my contact form.
At the heart of marketing is content, as Bill Gates once said, "Content is King" back in January, 1996, it still holds true today.
"Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.", Bill Gates.
Today, content has never been more important, and more than 20 years later, content still remains the king. In fact, every digital marketing strategy needs a content creation plan.
Content is Still King
So why is content still King after so many decades? Surely there's something else more important than content right?
The truth is, without content, how are you going to connect and engage with your target audience? Almost everything we consume daily is some form of content, it is even more so on the internet. Your favorite videos, songs, blog posts, educational article, these are all content in different forms and formats.
The current state of the internet requires even more content, and not just any content, it has to be great content that is relevant to your audience and abides by Google's EAT (a bit more about that below).
So if you wish to be successful in marketing your products and services, then don't even think about skimping on creating great content.
Advancements to search engines like Google also calls for the rise in awareness of the importance of content marketing amongst digital marketers. Content marketing is so important today because it is about the customer instead of the company, and this is exactly what Google wants.
Great content not only attracts the attention of people, it also gains the favor of search engine crawlers. If you do your content marketing right, you would be killing multiple birds with one stone, namely creating a pull marketing environment that drives traffic and relevant audiences to your website as well as ranking your website high in SERPs (Search Engine Results Page).
We will deep dive into the question "why is content still the King?" in a moment to show you how critical content is in today's market.
According to 74% of companies surveyed, content marketing has increased their marketing leads, both in quantity and quality. (Curata)
Why Content is Still King?
Since the beginning of time, content has reigned supreme. Even the first caveman pounding his chest proclaiming "Me King!" knew that content was the key to spreading his decrees to the people.
Today, content is at the heart of all successful marketing campaigns, and that value is only growing as the internet becomes more crowded.
Companies are starting to realize that in order to capture people's attention on social media or drive visitors to their websites, they need to have something of value to say.
Below we discuss some of the key reasons why content remains the King till this day and age, surviving all forms of evolution and revolution.
Build Relationships
Phew! The buzzword "content" is everywhere today when it comes to digital marketing. Content should be more than just blocks of text on a page. Instead, it should engage your target audience and arouse real responses.
The fact is that people are not interested in being sold to – they’re interested in being informed, entertained, and inspired.
The best marketers use content to connect with their customers and prospects. If you do this well, you will greatly improve your brand's relationship with its customers.
Creating, and sharing the right content at the right time, on the right channel helps to build brand reputation and trust and could potentially lead to more conversions.
To build a successful business, you need to not only bring in new customers, but also nurture existing customers.
Happy customers are repeat customers and oftentimes, repeat customers are the driving force of companies. They are also great for boosting brand loyalty and sharing positive reviews.
All of this sounds really good, but as with most things in life, it is often easier said than done. So how can we achieve all that with just content? Here are some suggestions on the types of content you can produce for your target audience:
- Step-by-step guides
- How-to guides
- Informational content
- Comparison guides
- Entertaining yet educational content
Try creating this type of content, and over time you will see just why content is king.
The right content drives people to make purchase decisions. It also keeps them coming back for more awesome content.
About 68% of people are interested to read about brands they use and support on the internet.
So give your audience what they want - relevant and useful content that makes them glued to your website and warrants return visits.
Approximately 80% of people find information about brands through their content.
So find your USP (unique selling point) and show off everything that your brand has to offer via carefully selected topics that will interest your target audience. Remember to focus on their pain points, interests and provide them with solutions to solve the challenges they are facing.
Make your audience feel that you understand them, and they will reciprocate by supporting you.
Improve Brand Recognition
In addition to building relationships with your customers with content, you will also be building EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) for your brand.
With every useful piece of content you put out, you will not only be viewed by people as an expert, even Google will recognize your expertise in your domain.
Gaining more audience for your content also establishes you as an authority in your field of business.
Creating more good content will lead to your brand being recognized as a trustworthy source of information to go to for your specific niche. Over time, your audience will respect and rely on your brand as a go-to source of information.
Once the word gets out, it will be easy for people to share your content on social media, chat groups and even word of mouth. People will start to talk about your brand as it becomes more recognizable and remembered by more people.
So you see, by providing relevant and useful content, you are building up to a chain effect that sees increase in brand recognition, improved search engine rankings and of course the overall EAT of your website and brand.
As with before, how can you achieve this? The simple answer is consistency. This means putting out good quality content on a consistent basis.
Daily, weekly or monthly publication of content would be good intervals to explore and weave into your business operations.
But, what are the types of good content you can put out to build your brand recognition?
A suggestion is to create content that shows and tells your audience why your brand is awesome and trustworthy.
You can do this by putting out content that responds to questions people could have about your products, services and brand. Educate them, inform them, but do it in an entertaining way.
Do not miss the opportunity to convince your audience to become your fans. Inform and educate them on the reasons why you are unique and even better than your competition, and eventually you will notice your brand recognition grow.
Boost Brand Authority
In the long run, content can help you boost your brand authority. But, to be an authority you need time to build it up.
Which is why influencer marketing has become a popular marketing strategy in recent years. Collaborating with the right influencers can greatly boost the authority of your brand in a short period of time and reach a bigger audience.
Influencers and even micro-influencers have a devoted and loyal following who trusts and looks up to them. They're almost like celebrities, but in their respective niches. So be sure to pick the right influencer for your unique niche.
Brands use influencers to increase sales as whatever the influencer introduces or promotes will immediately gain the trust of their followers.
Businesses have been using influencers for years, even way before the existence of social media. This was done via public figures and famous icons to promote products and services to boost sales.
Some businesses use mascots that are identifiable and relatable to their brand. Santa Claus is probably one of the oldest and most well-known influencer to be used by businesses throughout the years.
Every year, you would see this jolly old man on many ads. In fact, Santa Claus is proof that influencer marketing works and that great content has been king througout the ages.
If you are a new brand and would like to quickly introduce it to the masses, then you definitely should consider hiring an influencer to partner with your brand. However, be sure that the influencer is active in your niche and has a follower base that matches your unique target audience.
About 80% of marketers have found influencer marketing to be a successful endeavour, which is impressive. If approached and executed correctly, this marketing method really does show positive results. Social Planner - socialplanner.io
Keeping Your Content As King
Now that we have went through the reasons why content is king. But, how do you keep it that way?
Let's go through some strategies to make sure your content remains king for a long, long time.
Keep Your Content Interesting
We have made it clear that content is king, but even kings need to fight to keep his seat of power.
A king needs to keep his subjects satisfied and happy. Likewise, your content needs to be useful to your target audience. It needs to answer burning questions and solve problems.
However, these days, just doing the above is no longer sufficient as there are thousands of blogs for any niche and there are many others who can answer questions and solve user problems.
So in order for your content to keep it's royal status, it needs to also be interesting to your audience. This can be easier said than done, as it takes time for you to find out what your audience finds interesting.
Make good use of all the available analytics and audience data you can get your hands on and strive to create interesting content that keeps your audience coming back for more.
Make Your Customers Feel Like Royalty
Don't just make your content king, make your customers feel like royalty as well. Using content, you can make your customers feel important by getting personal with your content.
How so? Addressing your customers or visitors by name, sending them birthday greetings or promotions and if you're into e-Commerce, showing them relevant products based on their preferences can go a long way to making them feel special.
Personalization is the name of the game in today's market. You can take your content a step further by incorporating Live Chat into your online properties (website, social media etc.) to give them personal attention.
Good Looking Content
As they say, the clothes make the man. This saying holds true for content as well. If you want to garner the respect of your audience and be taken seriously then you need to look the part.
There are some ways you can make your content look presentable:
- Make sure it has good grammar and spelling.
- Punctuation needs to be well placed
- Make your content sound fun to read and avoid the use of too many jargons and fancy words that are hard to understand
- KISS - make sure your content is easy to read and understand, even by a primary school kids
- Use attractive visuals and colors
Consistency
As is whatever we do in life, consistency is key to many successes. An executive won't be holding his position for long if he does not perform his work at a consistent level of quality and frequency, nor will a student score good grades if she doesn't keep consistent with her classes and homework.
In digital marketing, consistency is equally if not more important. To create a sense of trust and reliability with your audience, you need to be consistent in the quality of content you put out as well as the frequency that you engage and reach out to your audience.
Having a consistent publishing schedule also helps your audience to look forward to your content, be it on a monthly, weekly or even a daily basis. Your fans will be expecting to see your latest content and if you miss that schedule consistently, you can be sure that they would have found some other source of content to follow.
Consistency in terms of publishing frequency and content quality is a delicate balance that needs to be kept to ensure your content stays king in your niche.
With that in mind, be sure to always do ample research and create a solid content calendar that you are able to keep.
So Why is Content Still King?
After reading thousands of words in this article, it is without a doubt that content remains at the top of the food chain in digital marketing. The algorithms may change, the platforms may change, but content still reigns supreme in terms of importance.
Content is the past, present and it most certainly is the future king in the digital marketing space. Businesses of all sizes worth their salt use content to achieve marketing success and increase sales revenue.
Your business is no different, use content to build your brand, forge meaningful relationships with your audience, give them a reason to support you while entertaining them with meaningful content throughout the journey.
Need advice on your content marketing strategy or digital marketing? Reach out to me and we can take it from there.
Meanwhile, I wish you all the best in your digital marketing journey! Till next time.
The COVID-19 pandemic swept through the world swiftly, leaving supply chains and businesses paralyzed in its wake.
Businesses that once ignored the importance of having an online presence started to seek out alternative methods of marketing their businesses when they started to realize what they were familiar with were no longer working.
Digitalization has been happening for years, albeit at a slower pace. It is inevitable, yet many resisted the change, many times it was because they could not see the value in digitalizing their business business.
The pandemic may have caused the downfall of many businesses, however it was also the catalyst of growth for many new businesses and industries. What did they do different that allowed prosperity in dire times where others folded, and crumbled to dust?
Quite simply, those who pivot and embrace change are the ones who will survive for the only constant in life is change. Those who have embraced digitalization even before the pandemic hit have been reaping the rewards of having an online presence and the power of digital advertising for years.
What was once considered to be high-tech, and next generation has now become the norm. If there's anything positive that the pandemic had brought, it is the acceleration of digital adoption.
Today we see businesses turn to social media, digital advertising platforms, e-commerce marketplaces and those who are really serious about expanding their business online would ultimately setup their own corporate website.
Marketing has largely moved online whether we like it or not, and I can't help but feel surprised at business owners who still fail to see past the dollar and cents needed to build their online presence.
The pandemic has certainly brought some business owners to their senses, but there are still some who are still not convinced. For the sake of their own survival, I hope that they too can pivot and change their mindset, to accept new ways of doing things.
So here's to a new normal in marketing, where online presence, digital advertising, social media engagement, and SEO copywriting are commonplace. To embrace it or not, the decision is still yours.