Chapter 6 - What Content Should You Include?

jamesmaduk.com

Niche Information

Pack your information site full of information. Visitors are looking specifically for How-To information. That is what you should give them.

Create text heavy pages that are rich in your keywords. Remember how the search engines work and what they are trying to do for your visitors. They provide links to pages with information about the key words that the visitor searched for.

What content do you have that is keyword rich that could be used? The following examples may apply to your business.

Case Studies

Do you have past customers successes that you can write about? What kinds of solutions have you created for your customers? Was there anything unique about how they use your product or service? What about how you implemented the solution? Did your implementation provide added value for your buyer?

Case studies do not have to be long. Use a common, consistent format that lets the readers know exactly what they are getting. You can use the SPIN formula to describe what you and the customer were up against. (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need). Write a paragraph describing the situation. Next, explain what the specific problem was for the customer. Go into some detail about what that problem means to the customer, and the implications of not getting it fixed. Finally tell what the customer wanted to have happen. Once you have done this, you are free to explain how your product or service fixes everything.

A case study can carry a lot of weight if you include testimonials from the actual customers. Ask them in an e-mail to explain in their own words what their problem was and how things are going now. This builds credibility and gives you valuable feedback from real customers on how well you are doing.

Whitepapers

A white paper is sometimes called a position paper. This 5-15 page document provides the reader with your vision as a company. It can be used for positioning your company, product lines or services. It lets the reader know what you and your company stand for and answers the question, Why should you do business with us? A good white pager lays it all out, explains what your good at. It confirms your positioning in the market, and what makes you stand out from the competition. And finally, the opportunity you provide your potential customers and the costs they might incur if they do not consider you.

When done well, a White Paper makes a powerful piece of sales collateral. Make two copies available. Create one as a Microsoft Word Document that visitors can download (make sure to capture the e-mail address) and another as a standard web page.

White Papers that are downloaded can travel quickly. Make sure that the Word or Adobe PDF version includes links to your main theme site. Give any reader an easy link back to your site where they can get more information about you and your offerings and you have the opportunity to capture their e-mail address.

Reports and Articles

Can you write 400-500 words about the proper use of your products and services? Of course you can! Each week write a short How To tip, Ideas, Top 10 or True/False article. Tell a story and use your personal experiences during the past week of business as a place to start. Use plain conversational language that is easy to read and to the point. These articles can be given their own web pages, or used in your e-zines (electronic newsletter).

The number of short articles you write will grow quickly; before you know it, you will have enough to craft a special report. Take 10-20 of these articles and combine the ones that have content that is similar. Create a small e-book or PDF file that your website visitor can download. If you are more ambitious, you can even start to sell these reports and create a new revenue stream.

Newsletter Archives

Keep a complete archive of all of your newsletters and e-zines. This is a simple way to add tons of keyword rich and link rich content to your site. You can cut and paste the complete text or past e-zines and create a simple page for each edition. Keep all of these pages in their own directory with an index page that points to every article. What this allows you to do is submit your www.yoursite.com/archive/index.htm page to a search engine or directory. This directory is great for attracting search engines now that you have got lots of e-zine articles that are keyword rich and full of relevant web links listed.

Surveys, Polls and Interviews

Want real information from real customers? Ask to interview them. You can even do this online with services like www.surveymonkey.com. Survey Monkey allows you to create online surveys, collect responses and then analyze the results.

If you just want quick answers to simple questions use www.tadpolls.com. This free service allows you to get quick feedback by asking a single question on your website. You complete a form online, which generates the quick poll and possible answers. The website creates the html code that you need to add to your site. TadPoll does the rest including the response rates and statistics from your poll.

You can expand your market by interviewing executives from suppliers or partner companies. Find out what is new and exciting with complimentary products and services. This helps your customers keep up with trends and leading edge news. You can record the interview over coffee or ask if you can use a partial transcript online. Either way you get more good content for your website and the search engines.

Online Information Events

Any event is a great way to provide valuable information to your prospects and customers. Making regular presentations online provides regular content for your website. It will contain loads of text that is rich in your keywords and it gives your visitors a reason to come back to the site. In addition to their visits, creating or participating in events gives you another opportunity to capture an e-mail address, and contact your customers on a regular basis by e-mail. If you get good at it, you can also turn them into a great revenue stream.

Free events all require that the visitor registers. When you are starting out, the main goal is the capture of the e-mail address. Later when you have successfully grown your list you can evaluate whether charging for events makes sense for your business. In every event, make sure that the content is available to educate the customer.

Online events can come in two forms: Live or On Demand.

The creation of the two types of events is identical. It is only the delivery that is different. Most website hosting companies or ISP s are not set up to deliver Live Events online. So if you want to deliver a live event, you will either have to host your own or use a company that specializes in delivery of live web broadcasts. While any online event requires planning and some technical resources to complete, the live broadcasts can be challenging so I recommend that you concentrate on On Demand events until you are comfortable with presenting online.

Key Point!
Information Events Are The
Easiest Way For Small Business
to Stay Current In The Minds of
Their Prospects And the Media!

The actual event or presentation can be presented in any combination of rich media. Rich Media consists of text, audio and video. If used effectively these events can convey large amounts of relevant information in a short period of time and give a professional image to any organization.

There are many different tools available for making presentations online. Some are free, some can be quite expensive. Some require that your users have software installed on their machines; some formats automatically install the needed software when the user visits the presentation page.

Holding virtual conferences for e-learning, sales presentations, marketing events, customer support, or partner collaboration are all possible uses for an online event.

An on demand event just means that you create a presentation one time using the media that is appropriate for you and then make it accessible to your visitors on a web page. While it should be a public page on your website, you can either password protect it or do not include public navigation links to it. Publicize the new event and then collect e-mail addresses from those who wish to view it.

Check with your ISP to see if they allow you to host audio or media files on your website. I haven t found any that did not! Experiment with some of the following types of events and consider whom you are targeting as a customer. The majority of home users still access the net with a dialup account.

These are just some examples of what you can create as online events. Balance great information with an opportunity to visit your site and you will build a loyal following of prospects. Better yet events build a buzz around you and your company that can further increase the traffic to your site. A series of well-timed events can capture e-mail addresses, educate your prospects and pre-sell.

Easy Events

1. Microsoft PowerPoint makes it easy to save any presentation as a web page. If you are using FrontPage as your html editor, you can even save it directly to your website.
2. Windows XP has an add-on for PowerPoint and FrontPage called Microsoft Producer. I downloaded it free from the Microsoft website. http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2002/producer.aspx Producer uses PowerPoint presentations and Audio/Video in an easy to use template. You choose what audio or video you want to include with the presentation and then save it to your website. Audio can be added with just a regular sound card and cheap microphone. Adding Video requires a home video camera to be connected to the computer
3. RealNetworks includes free tools that you can download and create easy presentations as well with PowerPoint. I use Real Presenter, and Real Producer to convert PowerPoint presentations to online events that anyone can watch. Both of these programs are template driven and easy to use. They are available for free on www.realnetworks.com if you want to download them and try them out.
4. My favorite online event is something called a BoardCast. In fact, I do one almost every Monday morning. The BoardCast works exactly the same as if you were with me in a boardroom. I use a product from Virtual Ink called a MIMIO. This device uses a microphone and a piece of hardware that clips on to a standard whiteboard. I give a 10-15 minute presentation, writing on the whiteboard and explaining the key points as I diagram them out. Using free Real Player software that most home computers come with, you can listen and watch exactly what I write on the whiteboard. The great thing about this format is that it is designed to work with a standard dialup Internet account. Everyone who is online can view it. Visit www.webmarketingforsmallbusiness.com and register to see a BoardCast for yourself.
5. Audio files are easy to create and distribute. Microsoft and Real Networks both provide free tools for the creation of audio files. You can convert any type of audio file into a format that your visitors can download or just listen too online. I have done a number of audio only events successfully. In fact one of them turned into my own radio show on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA in Ottawa.

   a. Interview past customers. Ask them for examples of how they are using your product or service.
   b. Interview industry experts. Ask them to give advice on how your product or service may be used.
   c. Narrate product evaluations and save them.

6. Share MP3 Files. File sharing and swapping of MP3 files is a great way to spread the word about your products and services. Anyone can create MP3 Files with inexpensive software such as the Real Networks advance RealONE player. The Advanced RealONE player includes the ability to record on your sound card. This means that all you have to do is plug a Microphone into your sound card, read your presentation or do your interview and then save the file. You now have a MP3 file that everyone can listen to. You can even hook a tape recorder up to the plug at the back of your sound card and use taped interviews as part of the audio content. 7. Collect enough audio files and you can even create your own Internet Radio Station. Tune into Small Business Heroes now and you can listen to mine! All I did is collect all the interviews and talks that I have done and then I created a play list. Your ISP can help you set this up.

Testimonials

In one of the first sections, I said that trust and business rapport were the two keys to selling online. The right kind of testimonial is the most powerful way for a small business to build the required trust and earn the right to do business online. If you say it, it is only a claim. If someone else says it, it has got to be true.

Buyers are funny about whom they believe. Sometimes the source is more important than the actual information. You can see examples of this on TV and in the print media.

You may have heard the term advertorial or infomercial before. If you have not read one, you have probably seen one. These marketing approaches are designed to make an advertisement look like a TV interview or like a news article. The advertiser purchases space and then is interviewed.

Reporters or well-known celebrities are paid to do the interviewing. The result is a packaged story on how great the company, product or service is.

The reason advertisers do this is because the celebrity or impartial reporter has an implied trust with the readers. The viewers assume trust, thinking that if this trusted third party says the company is great, then it has to be true.

Even though most consumers recognize this type of advertising, it still works. If it did not work so well there would not be any late night TV.

The problem online is that there are just too many websites making too many false claims.

What does this mean to the small business Internet marketer? Do you have money to pay for a celebrity endorsement? Do you have the money for advertorial and late night TV spots?

Things get worse if you are an online small business selling products and services that require the customer to think about giving credit card details over the Internet. Would you not you ask yourself, Is this business legitimate? Will I get what I ordered?

Big businesses leverage their traditional advertising channels and large budgets to buy proof before the customer gets online. The customer already trusts the brand.

The small business must use testimonials that are real. A real testimonial means the potential buyer knows that:
 - There area real people that they can contact who bought and liked your product.
 - Even though you are not a big brand, you are a real business.

The testimonials are the proof for all of the claims that the website makes. It is the evidence that the customer looks for before they even consider doing business with you.

When you get real testimonials, you will find that two things will happen immediately.

1. The number of e-mail addresses that you collect on your main theme site will increase dramatically
2. You will be able to charge more for your online offering and convert more of the visitors that you do get.

How to Get Real Testimonials

A real testimonial requires two distinct parts. The testimonial has to be something that a real person would say. Remember word of mouth is the best way to influence, not word of marketing department. In the case of real testimonials, it is more important to be a real person instead of a real expert.

Specifically, what you need in any testimonial is the person to talk about how you have benefited them. What have they been able to do because they have your product or service? How has it helped?

So the next question is If I need real comments from real people how do I get them when most real people hate to write them?

Answer; Survey your customers on a regular basis in your e-zine.

Definitely be open about the fact that you are seeking reader quotes and stories to use in your e-zine. However, instead of asking people to say how much they like your product/service or e-zine, ask them how they would use them.

You do not need a lot of subscribers to answer. You need real people to tell their stories, and lots of people like to tell. Use open-ended questions to get the feedback.

"How would & help you grow your&? Give me an example of how it could do that?"

Also, ask for their name, e-mail address, and ask permission to use their comments. If they have a website, include that as well. Finally, please make sure to thank those who give you feedback and let them know if you plan to use it.

If you are just starting out, take the FAF route. Look up any of your friends, family, peers or industry experts and just ask for a quote. You can also ask friends and family for referrals. Tell them what you are looking for and ask if they know anyone who would be appropriate.

Where to Use Testimonials?

Rank your testimonials in order of importance and categorize them along product or service lines. Assign the highest ranking to a famous person quote or a well-known individual from within you peer group or target market. Use your testimonials prominently on your main theme and content site; create a pop-up window linked throughout your entire site. I also recommend dedicating an entire page or site wide border to your testimonials.

In step four you will find another reference to the use of testimonials. In the case of your selling site, you will be using as many testimonials as you can fit into the copy. Collect as many as possible and sprinkle them as often as possible through the copy. Highlight them in groups with different text or background color to bring attention to them.

If you are using a pop-up to capture e-mail addresses, make sure that testimonials are included in the pop-up window. Test to find out which testimonials add to the number of e-mail addresses that you capture.

FAQs and BLOGS

Having your keywords prominently displayed throughout your website is important. An easy way to do this is through a FAQs page.

A Frequently Asked Questions page started as more of a technical support page. Instead of tying up valuable technical support staff, the webmaster posted all the common support questions and the corresponding answer or fixes to each question on a single page.

Key Point!
Blogging Is An Easy Way To
Improve Search Engine
Rankings!

Include sales and marketing questions and answers in dedicated FAQ pages to add high value content. The search engines will also love these pages because they will be full of highly relevant keywords.

A frequently asked question approach also works on e-mail. If you are not sure what to write in your newsletter, consider using common customer questions. How did they decide to buy from you? What were the criteria that they used to decide? How many different ways can a product be used to accomplish a specific task?

The Q&A approach allows you to control the answers. You provide and present them in a helpful way that is believable and builds trust. Consider including testimonials in these pages to further build your trust with potential customers.

BLOGGERS

A new approach to content can be found at www.Blogger.com . A BLOG is a short form for web log. Savvy marketers are hosting their own BLOGS and keeping a running journal of the daily customer interactions and ongoing sales and marketing information.

A BLOG is easy to update and builds your status as an expert as the amount of content grows. Here is one that I set up but didn t use. Notice the domain is not my own, it belongs to blogspot.com . http://virtualselling.blogspot.com You may also visit my new branded BLOG, Blogging For Small Business.

You are building a relationship with an individual web visitor. Someone who wants to know that you are real and that they can trust you. Updating your BLOG with real live experiences of the people in your company and writing it as a real live person instead of a company will make a big difference in how you are perceived online.

Write in a personal style on your BLOG and let the visitors answer their most important question. Can they trust you?

Site Map

Make sure that your information theme site contains a Site Map. A Site Map is a single page that contains links to every page in your theme site. The Site Map page should always be directly available from you home page. Visitors to your site love a single page full of relevant links when they are looking for specific information.

Out of ignorance, I found out that search engines love them as well. I had named all of the pages in my first website Online Sales Training and while experimenting with FrontPage I automatically created a Site Map (Table of Contents) page.

Imagine my surprise when I found myself ranked in the top spot for a search on online sales training on some of the search engines. What page had been indexed? The table of contents page that had been created by FrontPage had included the titles of every page three levels deep on my site. They were all named Online Sales Training !

Key Point!
Use a Site Map or Google
Gate as a Search Engine
Magnet!

The search engine had found a page that had a high keyword density and had links to every other page on my website. This single page allows the search engine to spider its way across every link on your website to get a thorough view of what your site is about. Submitting your Site Map page is a good idea when submitting to search engines. Make sure that you title your pages with your keywords and phrases and always keep a Site Map page on the top navigation level of your website.