When it comes to drawing visitors and search engine robots
content is King. And, when it comes to content, no King is
more powerful than a high quality article. Here's why:
Some web site owners are in constant sell, sell, sell mode.
All their copy does is scream 'give me your credit card
number' which a lot of people find offensive.
When the average consumer sets out to make a purchase they
begin by looking for information. They search on key words
and phrases and, studies have shown, they ignore the paid
listings that appear on the top of the results page.
They're
not ready to buy yet, they're 'just looking'. If you happen
to have a well written article sitting up near the top of
the search engine results then your site is going to be one
of their 'just looking' destinations.
Now that you've succeeded in dragging that surfer's
eyeballs
over to your page, what are you going to serve them?
Your best results will come from articles that do not come
off as 'infomercials'. You can easily establish yourself as
an expert in the search engine terms that brought the
visitor to your site without even mentioning their credit
card. Then, by simply putting a link to your web site in
the
author's 'resource box', which is the spot where you list
your name and, perhaps, a brief bio, people who found your
article interesting will click to visit your site. And
that's how sales happen!
People buy when they feel comfortable with the person or
company that they are buying from. In most cases a savvy
consumer ranks trust and comfort even above price when
making a buying decision. When you present yourself as an
expert, and you don't try to reach into the reader's
pocket, then you are building trust.
Of course, the more articles you have the more trust that
you establish. That's why it is a good idea to write
several short articles, around 500 to 600 words, or so, on
various sub topics. This not only makes your articles
easier to read and digest, but it gives you more exposure
to the reader and, thus, more credibility.
So, for example, if you wanted to establish yourself as an
expert on garden ponds, because you sell garden pond
supplies, then you might write a series of articles with
these subjects:
1. Garden Ponds 101: A guide for beginners
2. Summer Garden Pond Tips
3. Fall Garden pond Tips
4. Winter Garden pond Tips
5. Spring Garden Pond Tips
Now, instead of having one huge article you end up with a
series of highly relevant articles for the visitor to read.
As an added bonus, if you use your title and key phrases
correctly, you should get a lot of traffic when someone
searches for 'Winter garden pond tips' for example.
At the bottom of each article you would add your resource
box that might say something like:
'Joe Jones is the resident water garden expert at
www.SampleWatergardens.com and has been building,
maintaining, and enjoying water gardens for 25 years. His
backyard pond won the 'Pond of the Year' award from
ThePeopleWhoAwardTheseTypesofThings. Click here to see
some pictures.'
That little resource box has a big job and it does it well.
It sets the author's name out in front of everyone; it
establishes him as an expert and mentions his web site, and
it dangles some bait: Click here to see some pictures. You
can bet your last buck that people will want to see those
pictures.
Now, if Joe Jones is smart, those pictures will be hosted
on his web site along with a banner that says something
like 'Buy one pH test kit and get an oxygen test kit FREE'
or something else that will make the cash register ring.
Once you get a sale from that loss leader, you have
captured everything that you need to continue marketing to
that customer.
Let's take a quick look at how this all came about.
1. You wrote an informative article that didn't have any of
the usual sales come-on stuff in it.
2. You got the article listed in the search engines (read
my article on 'Why Search Engine spiders love article
directories').
3. You put an informative resource box at the end of the
article which provided a reason for the person to click and
visit a specially prepared landing page on your main site.
4. That landing page had a special offer that was designed
to convert the visitor to a customer.
5. You made the cash register ring!
It doesn't always go that smoothly but, if you do it right,
you should see a good increase in traffic and corresponding
sales. Try it and see for yourself.
Copyright © 2005 John Taylor
About the Author: John Taylor is the author of "Learn over Twenty ways To
Improve Your Conversion Rate and Multiply Your Profits" - A
Special Report that contains a wealth of information on
professional testing and tracking techniques that can boost
your conversion rate and generate increased profits. Visit his website at:
http://www.test-and-track.com
Source: www.clickforcontent.com
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