**by Andrew Wheeler**
Don't put the cart before the horse. Don't count your chickens before
they hatch. Walk before you run. However you say it, it means the same
thing: Don't get ahead of yourself! Yet time and again, I see B2B
marketers doing exactly that as they drive traffic to their website
without first having the right content in place.
Why it's a mistake
This move translates into risk for a number of reasons. First,
visitors to your site have expectations of what they'll find upon
arrival. If you don't have what they want - or need - they'll be
disappointed and leave. And your chances of getting them to come back
are pretty slim. Moreover, if the visitors to your site vanish without
completing a conversion action, was it really worth it to bring them
there in the first place? At that point, what will you have
accomplished besides wasting time and money, and creating a poor brand
experience for a lot of potential customers?
How to build your content strategy
Smart B2B marketers won't let this happen. Instead, they'll follow
the below six-step plan to build an effective content strategy.
Define your goals and objectives
Building a solid content strategy first requires gaining an
understanding of the purpose your site. What is it intended to
accomplish? Are you selling products? Promoting services? Providing
information? However, keep in mind that these goals and objectives
might differ page by page. Considering that, it's critical to outline
the goals for the overall site and the individual sections/pages. Once
you have clarity on this, it will make it much easier to construct
your strategy.
Assess the competitive landscape
The next step is to identify what your users are seeking online, and
gain an understanding of why they are looking for it and when they
need it. It's also important to identify the other companies that show
up in the search results on similar content. To do this, you must
first identify as many related keywords as possible, and leverage free
search engine tools (and your search agency partners) to quantify
search query volume for each. This data will help you establish
appropriate content themes.
Take inventory of your content
Once you know your target themes, you need to do a full assessment of
everything on your website, including textual content, video, images,
press releases, etc. This is critical because each of these forms of
content could tie to certain keywords within the search engine
results. As you review your content, consider whether it is relevant
to the themes you identified in the previous step. In addition, assess
whether it aligns with your understanding of how people are looking
for your products/solutions. Ultimately, this step will help you
ascertain whether you currently have sufficient content that will
enable you to win on certain keywords/themes in the search results.
Make smart decisions
Next, look back at the first three steps and determine your must
win themes. However, be mindful that winning isn't everything. Given
that, you must also determine secondary themes: areas where you still
want to be found in the search results, but that you recognize that
you won't be able to dominate, and as such, will limit your efforts
accordingly.
For example, if a large B2B office supply company wanted to win on
the following keyword phrases: HP Color LaserJet Printer and laser
printer comparison, but was forced to choose between the two, my
money says that they would pick the first one every time. Why? Because
the searcher who uses that term in this case most likely an I/T or
procurement person is much closer to actually making a buying
decision. Considering that, this company might be best served to make
the latter term a secondary area.
Integrate or die trying
Integration is no longer an option for marketers; today, it's a must
do. In fact, research
<http://www.iprospect.com/about/researchstudy_2007_offlinechannelinfluence.htm>
shows that 67% of search engine users are driven to search by an
offline channel. Moreover, 39% of those offline-influenced search
users ultimately make a purchase from the company that prompted their
initial search. What does this mean for you? Don't build your content
strategy in isolation. Instead, walk down the hall and talk to your
marketing peers in affiliate, display, and email marketing to
understand their upcoming initiatives.
Likewise, share your most successful keywords and ad copy with them
so they can capitalize on those successes as well. In addition, make
sure that your online content strategy supports your company's offline
efforts. Ideally, the key areas you identified in the previous steps
need to be aligned with the other groups within your organization.
Execute
Once you've completed the above steps, it's time to ask yourself a
few questions: How much content needs to be modified or created in
order to support the strategy? Do you have sufficient internal
resources to make this happen? If the answer is yes, it's time to sit
down with the appropriate teams to share your hard work, plans, and
needs. If the answer is no, you need to start identifying and
evaluating potential partners to help you develop and deliver the
necessary content to win in the areas you previously identified.
Driving relevant traffic to your website is important, but don't get
ahead of yourself. Make sure you have the right content in place
first. If you follow these six steps, you will be well on your way to
not only being found in the search results, but also to fulfilling the
needs of your prospective customers once they land on your site.
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the author, and not
necessarily Search Engine Land.
Andrew Wheeler <http://searchengineland.com/author/andrew-wheeler/>
is managing director of the Chicago office for search engine
marketing firmiProspect <http://www.iprospect.com/>
, and can be reached at a.wheeler@iprospect.com.
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