To anyone who is new to website content creation and worried about giving their knowledge and advice for free. Don’t be – it’s a key to happier clients, better business and enhancing your brand. If people can see what knowledge you have, then they’ll be more likely to hire you.
Hello,
About the store of articles that you have on file from 2015 up to this year. They are a great resource – I totally understand what you’re saying and why you would want to keep them for your ‘Members Only’ website.
But I couldn’t let it go without stating the case for publishing them as blog posts that people will be freely able to see, and that Google will be able to search. There are a few important reasons to bear in mind. I’ll finish with the crux of the matter, but hopefully the following will reveal my thinking on the way:
You will easily gain extra trust and authority
Firstly, and most obviously, your articles cover a lot of subjects that your potential clients/customers want to know about. You are also speaking directly to their concerns in a language they can easily read and understand. This gains you huge amounts of trust and authority, or rather enhances that which you already have, both of which are hard currency on the Internet.
Sharing the articles reinforces your brand as an expert knowledge-leader in your field, and will mark you ahead of the competition. It will also give your readers content to enjoy and share with others, therefore expanding your profile and reputation even further. And it’ll encourage repeat visitors.
It’s important to note that you wouldn’t need to post all of them at once. You could lead with maybe the first 3 or 4, and then hold the rest back to drip-feed them through on a monthly basis. This way, you’ll be able to announce each new blog post via social media, thus creating an excuse to keep yourself visible and active in the public eye. Promoting your content, and therefore your services, is key.
You will gain better results with search engines
As the material is searchable, it will mean two things – one of them robotic and he other one human:
-
- Google’s web trawlers will recognise that your website has a lot of useful information for people searching for topics in your field. So, it will favour your site when returning results to people Googling quite specific industry queries.
- As mentioned, your articles cover those exact topics that potential customers will be trying to find more about online. They are likely to be searching on the terms that you use, and so you will also naturally show up better in their search results. You are meeting their needs at an early stage.
Both of these aspects mean that people will be drawn to your website, and therefore your services and products. And if your website is working properly, you’ll be in business. Which leads me nicely onto…
You’ll get more passive income and enquiries
Great blog posts will sell your business in your sleep. They act as an advert for your knowledge, services, expertise and, of course, your character.
This means you can use these articles to lead people on to your real money-making concerns. At the end of each article, you can insert a call-to-action for readers to sign up for your membership site, book you for a speaking gig, arrange a telephone consultation or maybe even buy your book (should you write one!).
The simple act of these articles leading people to your membership site, where they will be able to sign up for similar insights, tutorials, webinars, etc, should be enough in itself. The articles are the perfect magnets for new leads and potential sign-ups.
People will understand why they need you
By showing the articles online you will be revealing some valuable insights and useful, actionable information. You might think that giving this information away for free will mean people will not feel the need to engage your services, but in fact the opposite is more likely to be the case.
People reading your articles will definitely have gained knowledge, but will they be able to put it into action? In almost all cases no. They can see what can be done, but in the end they don’t have the expertise (and probably neither the time or willpower) to do it.
You have revealed to the readers how complicated and in-depth your field is, and how valuable you could be to them. The readers will feel they now know a lot more about what needs to be known and done, but they will also know that you are the person they need to hire.
This is the crux of the matter.
In conclusion…
You end up with a win/win situation: a client who is now better-informed, and who also has a greater respect for your role. They’ll want to work with you more because you have reinforced trust and authority, and you’ll get an easier ride because they understand you are doing a difficult job.
Sorry, this has gone on for a lot longer than intended! If after reading this, you still want to go ahead and reserve the articles for your members-only site, then we absolutely respect that. We understand you want to keep certain material as something people will pay to access. But, as I said earlier, we couldn’t let it go without saying something!
PS – this has actually been a great exercise in getting down on paper all the reasons why a business would want to run a blog. I might use this as a blog post myself!
Do you need advice about blogging, marketing, or how to improve your website? Just drop me a line at doug@lookherewriting.com or give me a call. Details on the contacts page.