Right then. Here goes. I’m going to try and explain why content marketing is so important to your website, but in order to do this I need you to work with me. What I need you to do right, is pretend that that you have lost your brown leather shoes. You = no brown leather shoes. Got that? Good.
We need to understand the Google algorithm first…
So, moving on from your shoeless state, I need to give you a quick, simplistic crash course in how Google search works. Google, or rather the algorithms that make up Google, visit your website and have a good old poke about. Google looks through your photo albums, visits other websites to see what they are saying about you and it reads through all of the content you have on the website in order to understand what it is you do.
Now that last bit is important, because it is the first reason I have for why content marketing is so important. The more content you have on your website, the more information Google has with which to build an understanding of what you do. A simple, logical idea really – the more you talk about what you do on your website, the more Google understands what you do and thus the more likely it is that Google will display your website in response to a relevant search query.
Now back to your lack of shoes and the second reason why content marketing is so important
Imagine that, in order to buy some new brown leather shoes, you visit two identical brown leather shoe sales men. Let’s call them Bob A and Bob B. Here they are:
Now, there is no denying that Bob A sells brown leather shoes. His website, showroom and sales patter talk of nothing but the brown leather shoes he sells. Great.
Bob B also clearly sells brown leather shoes that are identical to Bob A’s shoes. His website, showroom and sales patter talk of brown leather shoes too. There is one difference though. Bob B also talks about his love of brown leather shoes.
Rumour has it that Elvis actually preferred brown leather to blue suede
He talks about where he gets the leather that makes his shoes, his favourite shade of brown and the best shoes he has ever had the pleasure to have known. He shows you pictures of his family shoes that have been handed down from generation to generation and he mentions of the little known fact that Elvis Presley actually preferred brown leather over blue suede (this may well not be true).
Bob B very much lives and breathes brown leather shows and it is from Bob B that you buy your new shoes. It is Bob B who demonstrates the second reason why content marketing is so important.
Providing more and more content on your website, sharing your love for what you do, offers reassurances to your customers that they are in safe hands with a passionate, knowledgeable person. They know if they have a problem that you will know how to deal with it. They know that you care as much about their purchase as they do.
In short, content marketing is a way of telling Google, and more importantly your customers, that you are an authority on what it is you do.
Enjoy your new shoes.