2010,The,New,Way,Found,Online, marketing 2010: The New Way to be Found Online

Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:#0400;mso-fareast-language:#0400;mso-bidi-language:#0400;}The Challenge -Pressure to Reduce Marketing Costs- Companies want to know how best they canspend their marketing dollars to achieve required growth.The Solution “Content Marketing”The new way to be found online in 2010 is to create, publish and syndicatecontent that is valuable, interesting and entertaining on many of the socialmedia sites that are available today. Focus on creating optimized content thatis specific to what your target audiences are searching for: Identify the information needs of yourtargeted audience, Analyze your ideal persona’s needs byasking them what they look for, Provide information that fulfills theneed of each individual persona, Include a clear "call to action”. What do you want yourreader to do?Content SyndicationThe next step is to optimize your content and distribute it to many social mediasites where your content will create conversation. People will find yourcontent on search engines, click through to a social media site and participatein viral/push marketing as they comment and link to your valuable content.Content that Creates ConversationYour online marketing strategy should include creating and publishingremarkable content that builds credibility and improves conversation by beingfound on social media sites that are indexed in Google’s top 30 search engineresults. Without content, conversation is mere networking. Withoutconversation, content is dead. It goes nowhere. When your ideal personasearches for the information they are looking for with regards to your company,its products or services, you will have the opportunity to present your contentvia various social media channels. This provides them to choose the communication channel they wish toengage with your content. Using popular Social Media channels to market yourcontent is the new way of being found online. These channels can include Blogs,YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Squidoo, Hub pages and manymore. Use your website as the hub of your business and attract visitors fromthe channels they prefer to use online. Syndicate your content and takeadvantage of social media sites as they enable you to get to your target marketon a “many to many” basis as opposed to a static website which offers a “one tomany” interaction.Blogging – use blogs as a marketing toolby publishing educational and·relevant information about your products and services. Don’t sell, become a“thought leader” and develop your online credibility. Blogs will consistentlyattract new visitors and increase the online visibility of your company. Blogsenable easy interaction with your readers and provide a quick way to syndicate yourcontent. YouTube – create short videos showinghow your products can solve·problems that your ideal persona is interested in. Upload videos that providethe answers to your most frequently asked questions. Many people add the word“video” to their search term as they prefer to get a visual and audio view ofyour content.LinkedIn – develop your online networkof contacts with professionals· inyour particular industry. Review questions that are posted and provide answersthat address these questions without selling directly. LinkedIn provides youwith the ability to network with thousands of subscribers that can interactwith.Facebook – create a business profile andencourage your clients to·become a fan. That way you can attract and communicate to thousands of fans.Twitter – allows thousands of followersto be updated on the Internet· ormobile phones with the messages that you wish to publish. Social Media Bookmarking sites such asStumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit· makeit easy for your valuable content to be quickly spread throughout the web. Create and publish good content and you will stimulate good conversation.Creating a Content BlueprintIt is easy to fall into the trap and just start adding content to your websiteand syndicate it to social media sites. People can confuse “article marketing”with content marketing. Article marketing is mainly used to create links toyour website and to attract search engine traffic. In many instances these articlesare of low value to the reader and although they bring attention to your brand,they don’t always contribute to your conversion goals. The first step inimplementing a content marketing strategy is to create a content blueprint.Step 1: Define your business goalsWhat do you want to achieve in the following 12 months in your business? Goalsto consider are: Revenue targets, Increase customer base by 15%, etcStep 2: Identify your ideal website PersonasWho are the ideal personas that you would like to visit your website? These arenormally the decision makers or evangelists of your products or services: Chief Executive Officer, VP of Marketing, Chief Financial Officer,Housewives, etc.Step 3: List the types of information they require?For each of these personas, create a list of: Questions they typically ask,Information they seek about your company, products or service.Step 4: Determine the action you want your persona to takeDownload white paper, Download case study, View company video, Subscribe toyour newsletter, etc. This information should help your visitor solve theirproblem, build credibility and ultimately persuade them to engage with yourcompany.Step 5: Research search keywordsUse keyword research tools such as Wordtracker, SEO Book, Market Samurai orsimilar tools to: Identify the list of questions used in search, Identifyniche topics that you can create content for, Look for Top 10 lists, Best of,etc. ideas.Step 6: Create your BlueprintSort your content by Persona and create a site map and navigation plan tochannel your content effectively to your visitor. For each content piece,decide which Internet channels you will syndicate to: Website, Blog, YouTubevideo, LinkedIn, Facebook, And others that your persona would frequent.Create your Online Marketing PlanSchedule regular dates on which to create and publish your content. Publishingregular content will increase your online visibility and create an online assetfor your business.Measure your Business objectivesInstall Google Analytics to monitor yourwebsite and blog performance, Set the business goals that you need tomeasure, Review goal achievement and keywordsused to get to your site, Brainstorm creative ways of providingcontent related to your industry.Benefits of Content MarketingMany organizations still rely mainly on traditional marketing tactics whichconsists mainly of sending interruption messages to your target market. Thesemessages are being ignored or filtered by people who wish to find yourmarketing messages when they are ready. By incorporating “Content Marketing”into your marketing mix you can increase sales and profitability and realize many benefits: Syndicating your content on varioussocial media sites will encourageconversation about your content and will support any “word of mouth” strategythat your business has. Good information encourages people tolink to your content thus creating increased referral visitors to your website. An additional benefit is that goodcontent can generate many referral links which improvesyour Google rankings and in-turn increases the number of visitors and onlinebrand visibility. Good content reduces your need to usepaid advertising as you will continue to attract more qualified visitor traffic, insteadof continually having to pay to keep getting more visitors. By including Social Media into yourcompany’s communication strategy· youwill be able to target and get to the “Generation Y” population that isincreasingly becoming more important in the business world.ConclusionThe Internet provides the ideal platform for any business to generate leads.The way to increase your online presence is through “Content Marketing”. Bycontinuously publishing valuable and relevant information you will be creatingan online asset for your business.  Good content will lead to conversationabout your company and its products creating “word of mouth” referrals. Contact WSI Internet Marketing Barrie today for more information to have yourcompany found online. http://www.wsiadvantage.com