What’s your content basically? It’s your presence, especially on the Internet. People know you not just because you are there, they know you because of what you have to say about your business, your core expertise, and the world in general. Your content gives you a presence. It’s like your circle of your influence, and without influence, there is no social media presence.

When you publish content on your website or blog – thought-provoking content – you begin to make an impression. People either respect you for what you have to say, or they differ. Both the feelings create in their minds an imprint. The more you publish, the more they remember you. They begin to respect your knowledge. They begin to relate to you. They carefully follow your advise and opinion. Even if they disagree it means to an extent they’re paying attention to what you are saying. Then they write about your opinions on their own blogs and websites, or they share your links with their friends to may be seek further opinion. This is how people begin to recognize you.

Brands and people who have done well on social media and networking websites haven’t done so by merely appearing there all of a sudden one day. They are already recognized names. Since they are recognized, people eager follow them, they eagerly listen to them.

The point is, if you are a Sachin Tendulkar or a Britney Spears you just have to let the news out that you have created a social media presence. In a few minutes you’ll have 100s of 1000s of fans and followers. You are already a known name. You have already made a presence in people’s mind with your other efforts (here, cricket and singing).

You have to achieve the same thing with your content. Content is a great weapon. It makes people come to your blog and website again and again. You give people something to talk about, something to ponder over, something to put to use. This helps you strengthen your brand.

Money follows money and success follows success and this is how our world works (assuming you leverage the advantage). With strategic content publishing you create a recognizable presence, and then you leverage this recognition on social media marketing. By the time you launch your social presence, people already know you because of your content. In fact, they have eagerly been waiting for your social media presence.

So does this mean you don’t need to publish content if you are already a celebrity or if a few thousand people in your particular circle know you? Depends on where you are placed. There are well-known brands on Twitter, well-known artists, well-known writers, singers, journalists, politicians, Internet marketers, programmers, etc. but they don’t just depend on their Twitter presence. They actually need to perform in their actual fields. A writer who does not write can’t do much on social media for long, and neither can a cricketer who doesn’t perform well on the field.

Social media marketing needs a backing and that backing can be provided by your content publishing. Whatever you need to promote, it can be promoted through social media, but the actual message exists in the form of content on your website or blog.

Hiring a website content writing service is one of the most critical decisions you ever make for your online business. It’s basically your content that gets — whether through search engines, directly, or through social media and networking websites — traffic to your website, and it’s your content that converts your visitors into paying customers and clients.

Rather than hiring full-time in-house content writers, most small and medium businesses prefer to hire a website content writing service because (read why you should outsource to a content writing service), aside from saving on time and effort, they can also avail world-class writers from across the globe without going through the pain of finding them, and then training them.

The Internet is a great tool, a gargantuan advantage. Just log on and you can find writing talent from every possible nook and corner of the world. This is also a disadvantage. Unlike in the brick-and-mortar business it takes less effort to get onto the Internet and start a business. No, I’m not saying it’s easier to do business on the Internet, just easier to start a business. Nonetheless, there are many businesses that somehow manage to get the initial push and somehow you happen to stumble upon them and end up doing business with them. But do they deliver? Only time, and their performance, can tell. The thing is, they might just be testing the waters, or playing around with a new “work from home” idea just in case it works, but you are into serious business. You have invested your sweat, money and talent into your business and a lot is at stake. You are not playing around with some idea or “this Internet thing”. You want real results.

That’s why it’s very important to hire your website content writing service with great care. But if you have never worked before with this service, how can you decide, how do you know doing business with this company can be a safe bet?

What to look for before hiring a content writing service

• For how long has your content writing service been in the business: You can easily find the age of the domain. Check out their blog archives (they have a blog, right?). Go through their online portfolio. If possible, check out their client websites and see how old the content over there is.
• How does the website look: Most of the established content writing services have well-designed websites. By well-designed I don’t mean they should have won awards for best layout and design, you can just feel it. If they take their business seriously, they should also take their website seriously, because they are supposed to be getting good business from the website.
• Does your website content writing service have a social media presence: This is not necessary but a service that’s active on the social media has a reputation to maintain. It takes lots of effort to build a brand on social media and networking websites. If they take their social media seriously, there is a great chance that they take their business seriously too.
• Do they have a blog: Now this is a must for a content writing service. Just imagine a service that offers blog content to you and does not publish a good-quality blog. A blog is not just a great communication and SEO tool it also manifests an open, progressive mentality. It shows you put in effort to regularly talk to your visitors and share with them your thoughts.
• What’s their quality of writing: This should logically be the first thing to consider.
• How many websites link back to your content writing service: Back links are not only good for SEO, they are also an indication of good quality. If their website enjoys lots of back links from other websites and blogs it means people like what they have on their website and also what they have been doing.
• What sort of testimonials do they have: Remember that many websites have testimonials that don’t seem real so you need to take testimonials with a pinch of salt, but reputed testimonials do matter. Be wary of testimonials not accompanies by website links. If they display big brand names and they themselves are not a very well-known name feel free to ask for direct links where their content can be seen.

Do you have your own consideration for hiring a competent content writing service? If yes, please share it in the comment section.

Content marketing is different from conventional marketing; you can call it as pull marketing in which you make so much content available all over the place (the Internet) that it becomes very easy to find you. It is about building long-term relationships with your visitors and followers, on your website/blog, or on social media and networking websites. Through your content you are constantly seeding new conversations. You not only educate people about your products and services you also provide them solutions through your experience and expertise.

So where does the marketing fit in?

It’s not like the conventional marketing. Instead of promoting your products and services you promote your content, and it doesn’t always have to be about your business. There can be lots of information that is, although not about your business, but is useful, and is indirectly related to your business. Your information should solve people’s problem instead of pushing your marketing message. Does this mean you totally ignore your business and simply focus on solving people’s problems? No, it doesn’t mean that.

When you are providing your content, make it amply clear what business you are. Create contexts in which you can talk about your business. While trying to explain something, take live examples from your business. For instance, on this website I provide content writing, marketing and strategy services. For me it’s easier to refer to my services because they are closely related, but most of the content on the website is educational and informative.

Content marketing involves:

• Constantly generating and publishing highly useful content
• Making it easier for people to find your content through search engines and social media and networking websites
• Engaging people in conversations regarding your content
• Providing people a platform for exchanging ideas vis-a-vis your content
• Reaching out to people in other forums and social media and networking websites

Content marketing is an inexpensive, highly effective method of establishing and promoting your brand. It’s also a double-edged sword. Since your content marketing effort is closely attached to your brand identity, you have to be very careful about what sort of content you publish and promote.

So do you have a content marketing plan? If yes, please share your experience and wisdom. If no, why do you think it’s not an important part of your marketing strategy?

Pre-selling assumes that your customers are usually on your website to find answers to their questions or problems, and not to buy. The difference between selling and pre-selling is how you present these answers.

Pre-selling is just the opposite of selling, which is perceived as something that pressurizes you to buy. Pre-selling recommends subtly through one or two links in the informative content, building rapport with the reader and positioning you as the expert. Wouldn’t you be ready to listen if your trusted consultant recommended something to you? And that’s what pre-selling does. Pre-selling works because when people think you’re selling, their defenses go up; but in pre-selling, people are ready to listen.

Just about anyone is capable of doing the hard-sell on a product or service on the Internet. What makes the difference between a consistently successful online business and the ones that are looking for a quick buck boils down to the website’s ‘tone’. Every website speaks to its visitors and when the visitor reads the content, it should create the impression that the website knows what it is talking about.

Depending on how this content is expressed, it can establish you, the website owner as an expert. Rather than publish yards of running text that most visitors on the move are unlikely to read, the content must be presented as informative bite-sized pieces. Obviously no visitor wants to buy without knowing more about the product or service. To reach that fine balance between no information and the overdose, “pre-selling” is the answer.

Around 400-800 words is acceptable for pre-sell content to position you as the expert even as you gently pre-sell your visitors on your product or service. Here are some benefits of pre-selling:

• Ever wondered why NASCAR, Wimbledon, the Olympics, etc. always start on time? It is because they are pre-sold. When you pre-sell, you set a deadline. On that date, you’ll have your product or service out with no excuses
• When you pre-sell, your project is already funded. Which means – you don’t have to get all stressed out. What you need to do now is create compelling content and attractive packaging!
• You get a good look into your customers’ behavior for your product or service. Based on this information, you can tweak and tone before you launch your product/service.

Your next thought is probably about what you can pre-sell – here are some ideas:

• Books – can be pre-sold long before you write them.
• Products – obviously
• Seminars and workshops – you probably know this already. Some marketers pre-sell a series of these ahead.
• Consulting sessions – where your customer pays you before the event
• Membership sites – can be pre-sold even before they exist.

Just imagine how motivated you will feel to deliver when your first customer pays you!

The dictionary defines strategy as “a series of maneuvers or executions performed in order to obtain a specific result or goal.” This pretty much explains what content strategy is, nonetheless, lets define it in the context of achieving your business goals.

Strategy basically involves:

• Where you’re coming from
• Where you’re going
• How you’re going

Most of us know (I’m talking about averagely intelligent and intelligent individuals) where we are coming from and where we want to go. How we are going to go is the tricky part, the core of your strategy.

Assessing the need for strategic content writing

Why do you need to publish content in the first place?

• To create buzz
• To build a community
• To inform

Both are very important. Buzz doesn’t just mean creating noise. It means generating traffic that eventually earns you revenue. Then, your content needs to convert and for this you need to impart the right information. If you want to hire my content writing and online copywriting services, I must inform you why it’s profitable to associate with me. With my content writing and copywriting skills I must be able to inform you and enable you to make an educated decision (in my favor, preferably).

What do you want to achieve through your content?

As mentioned above, you need content to generate traffic that converts. You can get this traffic directly through referrals and social networking websites or from search engines. Ideally, your content should

• Increase referral traffic to your website or blog
• Improve your search engine rankings
• Convert your visitors into business partners, customers, clients or subscribers
• Increase your brand awareness

Hence, content strategy means publishing and promoting your content in such a manner that it achieves the intended result for you. This may involve brainstorming on

• What sort of content you should publish?
• What medium must be used to publish the content?
• What keywords and key phrases you should focus on?
• What should be the publishing frequency?
• How should the visitors be engaged?
• How the content should be promoted?
• How to increase your conversion rate?

Image source: Global Girl

Don’t know what’s “So what?” problem? It’s when you write something seemingly great and your reader thinks, “So what, big deal!” Alright, there are some readers who have an insatiable penchant for being critical and they will criticize you no matter what, but you can drastically decrease the number of such reactions by devoting enough thought to what you are writing/publishing.

Why do readers reject outright what you have written?

• The information you have provided is of no real use
• The same information is available on hundreds of other websites and blogs
• People have been sharing the same “secret” since 1998, or may be since 1500 BC
• You are drawing wrong visitors to your website or blog (you are not creating optimized, seo-focused content)

What sort of content creates the “now this is something really great” effect?

• Your content reaches the target audience (or vice versa)
• You pack lots of information that can be used in the real world
• You are providing valuable information that is not easily available
• You are offering easily available information with an interesting twist

Is it always about informing and educating your readers?

Not always, but most of the times. You have to make sure your content solves your readers’ problem, that it provides a solution, that it delivers what your readers want. So what about content writing for businesses and corporate websites?

The same thing applies. If you are providing online copywriting services then you must (ideally) be attracting visitors that are looking for (or may need in the future) a competent copywriter. So if you say you’re a great online copywriter it’s not going to make much of an impact because there are thousands of “great” online copywriters on the Internet; in fact these days anybody who can type starts calling himself or herself a content writer or an online copywriter. Rather, you should immediately address your visitor’s problem (that’s why it’s advised you should have targeted pages) and offer the most apt solution.

Here’s a good blog post by Chris I cam across that talks about solving the “so what?” problem while publishing your content.

It doesn’t help if you already have lots of content and then you realize that you are not targeting the right keywords. Although no situation is hopeless you can save yourself lots of time, and money, if you define your SEO goals properly. Make a list of keywords and keyword phrases you’d like to incorporate and then start generating your content around them.

There is also a business benefit of clearly defining your SEO goals — it keeps you focused. You know what sort of content you require for your website and blog and what you should avoid; yes, misplaced content is bad for SEO.

How do you keep your content SEO-focused?

• Create titles with your keywords. Your page titles are very important. They appear in the search engine result pages as hyperlinks when people search for the relevant terms. People click more on the links that carry the search terms they’ve just used. Even when people promote your content on social networking websites or link your your pages and blog posts they normally copy/paste your title — this associates these keywords with your brand.
• Use your keywords and key phrases when communicating your ideas. This tells the search engines that you have lots of content associated with the search term being currently used. If you provide content writing services then you should be talking about this subject a lot on your blog or website. But do it naturally; there is no need to use your relevant keywords excessively — this gets you penalized by almost all search engines.
• Link to your other pages not just the home page. Your different pages contain different bits of information and whenever you feel a particular phrase can be linked to a page giving more information about that phrase, create a link. It makes it easier for the search engine crawlers to reach other pages and it also creases the relevancy of your less prominent pages.

The basic idea of creating SEO-focused content strategy is keeping you focused and help you focus on the right search terms.

We are perpetually talking about adding new content to your website or blog but there is another way of having fresh content, as explained in this blog post titled 6 ways to give your old content new life. Personally for me it’s quite difficult to sift through my old posts and articles and update them. Although this does not increase the quantity of content, when you update your existing content, you keep it relevant, and you give the search engines a reason to re-crawl and re-index your older blog posts and articles.

This way you don’t have to create new content each time you want to drive traffic from social networking websites. Simply update your existing content and repost the links.

It also helps you refine your content. Frankly, we’re are constantly learning and evolving. I’m pretty sure I write better than what I used to write a year ago (although I feel my fiction writing has deteriorated considerably) and if you feel you could have done a better job with that post you wrote on providing better content writing and blogging services, you can try again and sound more convincing.

Just came across this blog post titled Five Ways To Better Engage Readers on Your Blog and being a professional content writer I totally realize the importance of engaging visitors with well-written content. Not only your blog, you also need to engage visitors/readers on your website too because

Engagement => Attention => Greater chance of business happening

The competition is tough on the Internet due to fair and unfair reasons. There are some websites that have excellent content, and there are some that are merely content farms aggregating inferior content from various sources. Unfortunately, the search engines do little to discriminate and this is why it is very important that you’re able to convey your visitors that you are here to interact and set up a relationship with them, and you’re really serious about what you are communicating. So how do you engage your visitors?

• Give them what they are looking for
• Empathize with them
• Offer something really useful (it can be information)
• Encourage them to have a dialog with you
• Convey to them that you are one of them and not some unknown entity

We like to do business with people we’re familiar with and when you engage your readers they get familiar with you.

A good way of engaging visitors, especially on your blog, is by encouraging them to leave comments on your blog. Darren has listed 13 Types of Posts that Always Get Lots of Comments.

The most important job of your content strategy is to engage your readers in a continuous manner. This is how they remember you. This is how they become familiar with you, and what you can offer them.

In order to engage your readers, you need to talk and listen and respond, instead of just talking at them from your lonely, isolated part of the universe. Ask them questions, and give them answers, or even probable answers, when they ask questions. Don’t just focus on establishing your authority — although that is important if you want people to listen to you — but along with that also talk in their language and be approachable.

In order to engage your readers in conversations,

Encourage them to interact on the comment section of your blog

The best way of letting people interact on your comment section is to let them share their thoughts. If you have, say, 10 points to discuss on a particular topic, publish just 7 and let the remaining 3 come from your readers. Does this leave your post unfinished? Wait for a couple of weeks, and if nobody talks about the points that can make your post complete, you can always update it.

Publish sometimes things that are relevant to your users even if they’re not directly related to your product or service

Is there some public debate going on on your part of the world and you would like to know what your readers think about it and how it impacts them? Take for instance global warming and rapidly melting polar ice caps. It may not help you sell more network security devices or get you more web hosting customers immediately but it will certainly provide you with an opportunity to reach out to your readers and convey to them that you are not merely interested in promoting your business. Varied topics also encourages those people to come forward and express themselves that are though interested in your field but have got nothing much to say.

Highlight suggestions made by your readers

Sometimes readers/visitors raise very important issues and they need to be highlighted. Talk about them by updating your existing blog post or writing a new one. Give full credit to the reader who gave you the idea and if he or she has a website, link to it. This will give an incentive to your other readers too.

Make good use of social media

Some of your readers may be active social media users. They may like to share their thoughts on Twitter and FaceBook rather than posting them on your blog. If you find it difficult to express what you have to say in the limited number of characters, write a small post on your blog and then just mention the link on your stream.

What more can you suggest?