Category: Content Marketing

We have all come across those attention grabbing titles, which seem interesting enough to click but when you open the page, it is a mere disappointment. Sometimes, the article is not even about what the title made you think it was about. This kind of click-baiting is not only bad for the company but is also deceitful. Sensational and unrealistically ‘viral’ titles are not credible and may make you look untrustworthy at worst and not-serious at best. Either ways, it is better to avoid them. In this article, let us take a look at some of the reasons why sensational titles are so outdated. 1. They are tiresome One of the major irksome qualities of sensational titles is that they tend to turn off visitors. A lot of people find sensationalism associated with tawdriness and low quality. They may also feel annoyed or put off when they see screaming titles that seek attention. While some people may click on these topics, they will eventually hurt you more in the long term. It is a better idea to avoid these sensational titles and instead, stick to something that is more appealing to journalistic standards. Indeed, many studies point towards the popularity of websites that seem authoritative and serious. 2. They raise expectations On the one hand, sensationalism tends to drive people away. On the other hand, many people are attracted to your titles and they begin to click through. They may even read through your blog posts regularly, after falling into the trap of sensational headlines. However, you will need to come up with more and more sensational topics and titles in order to keep your new breed of readers interested. These are the readers who may just be clicking on your blog topic because the title looks interesting. When they do not find anything that they are looking for, they may simply leave and never come back. 3. Sensationalism is not sustainable In the long term, sensationalism is not sustainable. It is not possible to constantly come up with witty titles when the context is not interesting enough. It is not necessary for every blog post to be read like entertainment. A majority of blog posts are boring because, well, life can be quite monotonous too. Nobody can party everyday and so can’t your blog. With this in mind, you will probably need to write in a level of seriousness that matches your business and company’s ideals. Look for the long term sustainability rather than temporary clicks and views. Looking forward Initially, you may find that sensational titles are fetching more visits to your blog. However, in the long run, they are not a sustainable way to engage in content marketing. They also have the tendency to reduce your credibility overall and make you look less serious than you might want to appear. Additionally, you may even look untrustworthy and may damage your company’s reputation. Looking at all these factors, it is a better idea to avoid sensationalism and to just stick to good writing and journalism.  

A lot has changed in the world today. People are accessing content on their mobile phones more than on desktops. There is a sea change in the way people approach content and also the way they use it. With more and more people using tablets and mobile phones to access content, traditional websites are not as popular as they once used to be. In order to be accessible to this burgeoning population that specifically uses mobile Internet, you will need to build the website and create content in such a manner that it is easily readable on mobile devices. In this article, let us take a look at how you can ensure that your blogs, in particular, are optimized for a mobile audience. 1. Keep your blogs short and crisp There is nothing worse than having to scroll down using a mobile touchscreen to read lengthy and verbose articles. Keep your articles simple, short and crisp. A word length of 500 to 600 is optimal but for longer and more in-depth ones, you can choose to have around 1000 words. Anything longer will not be particularly comfortable to read on a mobile device. 2. Make sure that your images are not heavy A lot of bloggers upload full resolution images, which take a lot of time to load. Also, it may not be a good idea to upload too many images anyway, in a blog post. Sometimes we see blog posts with more than 10 images. That is more akin to publishing an image after every few sentences. It distracts the reader and he may not read what is most important. 3. Get your developer to make your blog readable Readability has got a lot to do with your spacing, design, and typography. All these can be fixed by your developer. Ensure that your blog looks neat and tidy and that the best font style and size are used. The more white space you use within your blog, the better it shall be. 4. Give even more importance to blog titles than you did previously Blog titles should be catchy and attractive. Boring and lengthy titles will not attract people to click, especially when they are browsing on a small screened touch based device. Ensure that you make sure your title is as creative and attention-grabbing as possible. 5. Always include a call to action in the end Most bloggers forget to add a call to action in the end. It is very important to add a CTA so that the readers do not forget to contact you again. Just asking them for their email address should be more than enough. If you can find another way to ask them to take action, please go ahead and do so. Looking forward At the end of the day, it is important to write blog posts with mobile users in mind. People are mostly using their cellphones and tablets to access the Internet and writing blogs with mobile screens in mind is very important. Also, people who read on their mobile devices might be doing on so while they are on public transportation or while they are waiting for someone on the streets. This means your content should be able to keep their interest in spite of all the disturbances around.  

The short answer to the title question is, of course, an emphatic yes. However, this article is not meant to tell you whether content can help you retain your customers or not. They obviously do. Instead, it will help you to understand why content matters so much and how it helps you to retain customers. After all, a company that doesn’t have a content strategy is often not heard or read about it at all. Other than helping you with SEO and making you appear in search results, content helps you to build valuable relationships with your customers and retain them for as long as possible. Let us take a look at how this happens. 1. Build thought leadership When you write well-written blogs and eBooks, it shows that you know your business well. Your existing customers should feel validated about their decision to have purchased products or services from you. When you repeatedly post great content, it becomes clear to them that they made business with someone knowledgeable. That reassures them to make another purchase, especially if you serve in an area that changes rapidly. Your opinions, views, and insights will help you to create a sort of thought leadership that effectively becomes your brand identity too. 2. Remain in touch with your most loyal customers One of the best ways to find out who your most loyal customers are those who have made a purchase in the past and still continue to receive your newsletters, read your blogs and respond to your social media updates. These are the kind of people you should look at nurturing and encouraging. They will become part of your fringe marketing exercise. They are going to go and tell the world how awesome your company is. For this, you require creating content that is out of the world and exciting. 3. Keep your audience engaged One of the main reasons to have an ongoing content strategy is to ensure that people are hooked to your website and that they end up buying your products or services. There is another reason which is to remain in their conscious mind, which can only happen when they are reminded of you constantly. This can happen when they read about you in media or in social media. For that to happen, you need to create content that can be shared across social channels easily. In conclusion Certainly, content helps in retaining customers. It helps you to nurture your leads, communicate with them effectively, become a thought leader, forge new relationships, provide answers and most importantly, nurture your customers all along. In 2016 and beyond, you will probably need to overhaul your content strategy and focus on building your core business. It is becoming increasingly clear that well written and informative content helps people to reach the target audience they want to, and also to build lifelong relationships with them. Indeed, all you need to do is write well and publish content regularly across channels. This will help you to reach your content marketing and lead nurturing goals.