Content Marketing: how to increase your organic traffic?

What will we see in this post

In any internet-based business, be it a company that sells its services online, a blog that wants to make money with an Affiliate program or a regular e-commerce website, they all have a common characteristic: they need traffic.

There are several strategies to generate traffic and from there, promote your products or services. Basically, these strategies can focus on two types of traffic:

Paid Traffic
Free/Organic Traffic

Both have their application and obtain results, but each has unique characteristics.

With paid traffic, you get extremely short-term visits almost immediately by using PPC (pay-per-click) programs or hiring banners on websites with large numbers of visits.

But, unless you have a cash tree in your yard, you should measure exactly the return on investment you’ve made in the advertising you purchased, and even by optimizing this ROI to its maximum, you will still be limited to how much you can invest in paid traffic.

On the other end we have free traffic.

Every internet entrepreneur dreams of this kind of traffic, because it displays your products and services without any advertising costs; in other words, you are able to generate sales with much less costs.

But, how do I get organic traffic?

There are several forms of achieving this type of traffic, but all of them point to a central pillar, which is indispensable to obtain good results with traffic.

This pillar is called quality content.

If you don’t produce quality content, you won’t generate free traffic under any circumstances; or if you do, you will have mediocre results and bad traffic (yes, there is such a thing as bad traffic!).

And for the strategy we are analyzing today, this rule is not different.

How to Market Content

As you can see, Content Marketing is a key strategy for those who want to generate more traffic organically.

If you are a digital entrepreneur and still haven’t used this strategy, you need to start right now.

Thinking of ways to help you take the first steps or even continue and improve your organic strategies, we have brought you a few tips.

There are many ways to create Content Marketing, such as email marketing, rich materials, newsletters, but we decided to focus on 3 very common formats and in the end, we will show you the tips that apply to all of them. Shall we?

Blog:

Having a blog is one of the fastest ways of starting to apply your strategy of generating traffic organically. That’s because all you need is a specific niche in which to operate and write about subjects that attract the attention of those searching for what you are addressing.

Some people are afraid of starting a blog because they feel they aren’t good writers. But you should know that the more you write, the better your writing will get. There is also the possibility of hiring a freelance writer to write for you.

The secret here is to get started; and to help you a little more with this, we will show you what you need to focus on:

Understand what your public is interested in and post texts about it. There’s no use in talking only about what you feel is important, you need to understand the needs of those who follow your blog.
Come up with a catchy title, but never over the top. If you create an over-the-top title or one that doesn’t reflect the content of your post, you might compromise your credibility.
Focus on writing quality texts that are well-written and with content that truly adds value to the reader. Don’t try to push a product or promote yourself in your texts. Focus on providing the best content possible and attract readers.
Write something that is truly worth writing. A text with interesting information can generate thousands of times more traffic than several posts with weak content.
Write 1,000 to 1,500 words. Less than that might make your post superficial.
Always proofread your text. And when we say proofread, we don’t mean only the grammar (which should be done carefully, because in spite of being a text for the internet, it is important to write well), but also a review of the content.
Whenever necessary, rewrite your older and most accessed posts so that they are complete.
Create texts that can be easily taken in. Think about the scannability of your post; in other words, show your reader what your text is about without her having to read it all at once. Make it possible for the user to understand what it is about with a glance. To do this, use headings and numbered topics.
Avoid long paragraphs so that your text doesn’t become tiresome. Whenever possible, break down long phrases, but without interfering with the coherence and cohesion of your information.
Illustrate your post with attractive images that also represent the content of your text.
Kick off the promotion of your article. Share it with your social media followers and ask your friends to do the same. This will help your article to gain traction.

Vídeos:

The other format we will talk about in this post is video. Videos are also excellent to generate traffic, and everything you need is a YouTube channel to post your videos. (In addition to YouTube, there are other ways of generating income with videos, which can learn about by clicking here.)

This format is very popular especially because it is easily consumed. After all, all the user has to do is watch a video on a screen, whether on a cell phone, tablet, computer or any other device with internet access.

Below are a few tips for recording videos:

Create a script with all the information you will include in your video. This will make it easier to remember everything your material will include. (To learn how to create a quality script, read our guide on how to wrote video lesson scripts.)
Engage your viewer during the first few seconds of the video. The biggest challenge with this format is to get people interested from the beginning so that they don’t leave the video before it ends. To do so, during the first few seconds show viewers what you will be talking about and how your content can be useful to them.
Be as clear as possible when you talk to your viewers. Establish a dialog while you are recording, even if people can’t reply, they will feel at ease to leave questions and suggestions in your comments.
Invest in good filming equipment. At first you can record with your cell phone, but it is important to consider investing in good equipment so that the quality of your videos is as good as possible.
Good video editing is important. The more complete and well-produced your video is, the more it will catch the attention of those visiting your channel.

In addition to these tips, there are several others that can also help you create a good video.

Are you interested in the subject? Don’t miss this post on our blog with all the information you need.

Social Networks:

Nowadays, it is hard to find someone who doesn’t use a social network. So, why not use them in your Content Marketing strategy?

Social networks are excellent channels to generate traffic with relevant content because the interaction between you and those who follow you is instantaneous. And even if you don’t invest in boosted (paid) posts, it is possible to obtain good results.

Keep your social networks updated daily and with relevant content.
Share your post links on your blog and videos in your channel so that people who follow you can know that you have other sources of content distribution.
Don’t try to sell your product/service all the time. On social networks, users might interact more with your brand. That is why you need to use these channels to improve the relationship of your brand with your followers. Deliver materials that provide value for those who follow you. The 80/20 rule is valid in this case: deliver 80% of relevant content and reserve 20% to talk about your brand.
Avoid common mistakes made on social networks, such as controversy, the sharing of personal information or information about other people, data security and other care that you can learn more on our post about 9 blunders you should avoid on social media.

General Tips:

Now that you’ve seen 3 different formats to create your Content Marketing, we will show you what applies to all of them so you can generate more traffic to your business.

When thinking about blogs and videos, optimize all of your content for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It is very important to apply all the optimization techniques and practices for search engines so that your posts and videos appear organically at the top position of search results, such as on Google and Bing. But this rule does not apply to social media, since it is not possible to think of post ranking on Facebook or Instagram.
Be consistent with your publications. Regardless if you have a blog, a YouTube channel, Instagram profile, newsletter, etc. it is important to publish constantly. Even if at first you don’t create content on a daily basis, create an editorial calendar and remember to stick to it. When you are consistent, your followers create the habit of always searching for your content on the day they are published.
Always review your content; even the content in the top search result positions needs to be updated, especially if you are in a very competitive niche. It is very important that you keep your material always updated with the most complete information possible.
Make partnerships with other people who are also venturing on the internet. Contact people who provide content related to your subjects and offer posts for publishing, also known as guest posts. This strategy is also good to strengthen your domain, since you will have links on other pages in addition to your own.
Learn how to deal with positive and negative feedback. Reply to all comments made about your material and be receptive to the feedback you receive. Filter those that add something new to your business, but don’t avoid comments that aren’t very constructive. Answer them as calmly as possible to avoid conflict.
Analyze what your competition has been doing and try to create better and more complete content. Writing more about the same thing won’t provide new insights to the users visiting your channels.
Learn how to analyze your metrics. Measuring everything you have done and realizing what brings results and what can be changed to create more traffic is essential for your Content Marketing strategy to keep working.

Advantages of Content Marketing

In addition to the main advantage of being able to increase your traffic and therefore, the number of clients, there are several other advantages to start Marketing Content. We decided to address 5 of these advantages so that you can see how important it is to use this strategy in your business.

1. Recognition as a reference in a subject

If you begin to write quality content on subjects related to your niche and you publish them, while readers are being exposed to the material you created, it is natural that they start to recognize the author as a reference in that subject.

Building expertise and credibility take time and are crucial factors when a buyer decides if he/she will buy from you and your company, or if they will search for what they want elsewhere. It is at this point that Content Marketing becomes even more advantageous as a promotional strategy.

2. Lead Nurturing

Have you ever heart about lead nurturing?

This is a way of maintaining a relationship between you and your potential clients until they feel prepared to make a purchase on your website. Basically, lead nurturing consists of sending relevant content to the funneling stage where the person is making his/her purchase so that he/her can see that your product/service is the best to solve his/her problem.

This strategy is very common with emails, but you can also nurture your leads with Content Marketing. Every time you publish a post on your blog, people get to know more about you and your business.

You can deliver valuable content to your leads, who will find value in what you are offering.

But pay attention: don’t use your Content Marketing to constantly offer your products or services. Offer valuable information that can truly provide new information for your readers.

(To learn more about lead nurturing, access our post by clicking here.)

3. Interaction with your audience

Content Marketing is an excellent way to maintain an interaction between your brand and your potential clients, especially if you have a blog with constant publications. This is because your blog is a channel that users can access to send comments about what they like and don’t like, suggestions about what they’d like to learn more, share your post with other people (which helps increase your traffic on the blog and later, on your website), among other types of interaction.

The main thing is that you always pay attention to the comments made on your posts and always answer them. This shows that you are concerned about maintaining a good relationship with those who search for your content.

4. Reduction of the CAC

CAC (customer acquisition cost) is the metric that allows you to know how much your company spends with each new consumer generated by your marketing strategy (read more about the metrics you need to keep an eye on in this post).

If your CAC is high, it means that you are spending too much in order to increase your traffic. So, investing in Content Marketing is a major investment because it will help you bring new potential clients to your page in an organic manner.

The important thing about this strategy is applying the SEO techniques well in order to rank your posts, so users can easily reach them.

5. Educating your audience

The more you invest in Content Marketing, the more you can deliver content that shows people the types of problems your product or service can solve. With this you improve your users’ experience and also educate your followers, who will better understand the problems you face and will know where to find the solutions.

The more people understand the subjects you address in your posts, the more engaged they become in wanting to learn what you have to teach.

Conclusion

Content Marketing is a good strategy to generate organic traffic and build your reputation within the niche where you are venturing. It is a medium/long-term strategy, which does not yield results immediately. However, once you’ve applied this strategy to your business, that piece of content may continue generating visits for you for months and years to come.

It is important to stay focused on producing quality content that adds value for the user. This is indispensable so that he/she becomes a lead, a client or even someone who recommends your content to other people and then, you will have a viral effect.

Are you prepared to start investing in Content Marketing? Also learn 4 ways of making money with a blog!

This post was originally written in March of 2011 and updated to contain more accurate and current information.