Today’s blog post explores the concept of “content marketing” and how it can be leveraged as a strategy to promote your online brand. We look at the definition of content marketing, how it can benefit your business and share some ideas on getting started.

What is content marketing?

As defined by the team at Hubspot, “Content marketing is the process of planning, creating, distributing, sharing, and publishing content to reach your target audience.” They go on to explain that “It can boost factors like brand awareness, sales, reach, interactions, and loyalty.” In other words, effective content marketing provides information your target audience is interested in, and they will be more likely to see your brand as a good solution. The challenge however, is to publish content that supports your brand but doesn’t seem like an advertisement.

Along with many of our .au registrar partners, Afilias Australia follows a content marketing strategy which includes the publication of regular blog posts specific to the .au domain name industry, as well as articles that include content on domain names more generically, technology and digital marketing related topics.

How can content marketing benefit my business?

As you may already know and as SEO expert Neil Patel explains, regular, quality content that invokes curiosity and incorporates well-researched keywords can boost your website’s SEO ranking. As we explain in this blog post, selecting the right keywords for your website’s content is especially important. A great way to find what your users are searching for and to help craft your keywords, is by checking Google Search Console regularly to track popular search queries that lead customers to your website. To find out more on how Google Search console works, how to set your account up and how to improve your rankings check out this video, also from Neil Patel.

Let’s say you manage the content of a website that sells bikes in Melbourne (bikesinmelb.com.au). You soon discover that the keywords that attract visitors to your website  include “bikes for kids”, “bike stores Melbourne”, “Melbourne bike riding” and “best bikes in Melbourne”, and you realise that you should focus on these terms. Remember, you should always make sure that your product fulfills the promise of the keywords you select.

Getting started

Before you get started, it is a good idea to make sure that you have the resources. Will you or someone else in your team be able to deliver content on a regular and ongoing basis? Creating blog posts and other content is no small feat, and to get results it requires dedicated time and effort.

Next, you should work on developing a list of ideas relevant to your product and target audience by putting together an editorial calendar. Once the ideas, publish dates and channels for promotion have been identified, the process will flow much easier than if you were starting with a clean slate each week. 

Another good idea that the team at Search Engine Journal recommend is to research the tools available to assist in making your content marketing journey run smoothly.

Content marketing is a powerful way to build trust with your customers and demonstrate that your website is a credible information source within your niche. If you are yet to create a content marketing strategy for your business, we suggest you consider its value and put a plan in place so that when you are ready, you can get started right away.

Have a question, comment or idea for a future blog post? Email us at blog@afilias.com.au today.