Using Content to Build Customer Trust
So last time we touched on starting to build customer trust and spoke about the importance of website security and protecting your customer’s data. If you missed it, you can check out that blog here. This week I wanted to talk about content. Content can be anything you put on your website, be it pictures, articles or videos, it’s all important when used right and can go a long way toward building a loyal customer base.
Good Content is the Key to Successful Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing is a technique used for attracting clients to your services or products using content marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization and branding. Compelling, creative content that engages your visitors is the key to any successful Inbound Marketing campaigns. Beyond this, good content will also help establish you as an authority in your field, thus raising your trust level with your clients and potential clients.
Which Content is the Best For Your Business?
Ideally you would use a mixture of all three content mediums, however in some cases one medium will work better than another. If you are an artist then you would use images to promote your art. If you’re a musician then you would use a mixture of images and video to promote your gigs and music. Well written copy can be used in any instance and has great value, not only for establishing trust with clients, but also for adding SEO value.
Optimizing Your Images For Good SEO
When using images on your website it is important to make sure they are optimized, both for quick loading and SEO. A large image file can slow down site load times, which is bad in and of itself since Google estimates if your site takes longer than 3 seconds visitors will move on, it’s also bad for your search rankings as Google does take page load time into account. To prevent this and improve load time it’s really important to compress your images down to make the file size as small as possible. This can be done in most image editing programs but there are also online optimizers that will help reduce file size, thus helping images and websites load quicker. To check your load time, use the Google Speed Test. If you take too long to load it’s probably the images that are the culprit. If you are adept at Photoshop or other image editors you can compress your own images or use an online compressor. Just google “Online Image Compressor” to find a wide variety of tools. If you aren’t comfortable editing images yourself, drop me a line and I’d be happy to help you!
Additionally it’s important to make sure your image is optimized for good SEO. This means making sure your image title is descriptive and just a generic term such as “image1”. Generic terms like that are the worst. You want a descriptive title that will show up correctly in devices such as screen readers. You also want to make sure your Alt Tags have accurate, relevant titles. Doing this will provide added value to the SEO of your site, helping your site get a better search ranking.
Also when possible, use your own images that you took. Personalized images will go along way toward making your business stand out. Use stock images when you have to but if possible use pictures that were taken of your business. If you have a knack for photography then use your own photos. If photography is not your thing, find a local photographer to help you out. I’ve found this is especially essential with restaurants, where good food photography is a must. If you live in the Wichita KS area, I provide some photography services, so if you need some gorgeous food shots, or general shots of your business, I would be glad to help you out. Contact me for more info.
Good, Well Written Content is King
As the old saying goes, “content is king” and it’s the truth. Concise, well written content is probably the most important aspect of your website. From an SEO perspective it is essential to getting a good search ranking. However I must caution that the days of keyword stuffing is over. Needlessly cramming keywords into every other word of paragraphs will no longer help you with your rankings, and more than likely, will hurt them. These days you need well written content that accurately reflects the title of your article and is informative to your reader. That’s right, Google does pay attention to whether your article is relevant and helpful to readers. Keeping up to date content on your site is a must and a blog, with well written articles can help your search ranking explode.
Blog posts can be a great tool in your inbound and social media marketing. They shouldn’t be sales focused posts though. Instead you want to focus on being informative. Providing your readers with knowledge and information about subjects that are important to them goes a long way. These articles can then be used in Social Media Post and Ads to help increase your reach and attract more visitors to your site.
If you are good at writing, you’re in luck! Put those skills to work for you. If you aren’t confident in your writing skills, I would suggest taking some online classes to help improve it. If that isn’t your thing, the next best thing is to hire a copywriter. A copywriter who is well versed in SEO, can help you craft brilliant articles that will give your business a lift. If you need help finding online classes or need a copywriter, drop me a line, I can definitely help you out.
Video is the Future of Marketing
I’ve been to several big marketing conferences over the last few years and they all preached the same thing, Video is King. In 2017, Youtube reported it had over 1.5 billion monthly active users. That’s a ton of traffic. Why wouldn’t you want to get exposed to that kind of viewership? Now I understand you may feel camera shy and I admit, I’ve had that problem myself. Producing video content can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. These days research has shown that it doesn’t have to be the most polished content on earth. Besides, you already have a really good video production tool that you carry around with you every day. That’s right, your phone. All you need is a phone and the ability to talk and you can make a video.
When it comes to what to shoot, no one knows your business like you. Think from a customer’s perspective, what questions would they have about your business? How could you help answer those questions? Answering those questions will help build trust with your client base and as I keep saying, building trust is essential to your business.
The thing with video is you can’t just shoot one and stick it on your website. If you have someone who maintains your website and you send them a video to put on your site, chances are they aren’t going to just put it on the site. A video hosted on a site can be a real drain on your bandwidth, as well as the limited storage space most website host provide. It can slow down the load time of your site, which as mentioned above, can hurt your SEO big time, as well as cause visitors to leave your site. The solution to all of these problems is to create a Youtube channel and host your video there. Then you can just embed it in your site, saving you all the load issues and storage / bandwidth problems. Plus, video can be a huge boost to your SEO, especially when you have a Youtube channel.
In addition to all of that, video helps with personalization. When a potential client can put a face to a business, it helps build familiarity, which builds trust. Imagine how much easier a first call with a prospective client could be if they already felt like they knew you.
In addition, like the written content we talked about earlier, video content can be reused in your inbound marketing efforts. Once created, the videos can be sent out in emails, used in Youtube preroll ads, and social media ads. So as you can see, with a little practice video can become an important tool in your arsenal and help you build the trust of your client base to grow your business.
So as you can see, properly optimized images, well written content and video are all important tools to help you gain the trust of customers and build your business. Hope this article has helped you out, if you have any questions, hit me up. Otherwise, stay tuned as I’ll have more articles coming up on how to help you grow your business.