It’s easy to forget when you are working with small business owners that they tend not to live their lives online. The term “content is king” is pretty meaningless and me nattering on about content creation tends to go straight over people’s heads.
Content creation is exactly what it says on the tin…
Creating content to use on your website, your blog and other places around the web
Producing regular content helps feed the Google beast too…
Don’t be mistaken in thinking content just applies to the written word, it’s everything from images, to video, to audio, and anything that can be read, watched, listened to, played with.
As a small business working on a budget, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and think that you need to dash out and commission some fancy app or animated video to get your information across. While you can do that, it really is not necessary.
What is important is you provide your information in a way that’s easy to understand, interesting and definitely in a unique way. Your content can be as simple as a social media status update or a blog post.
Ideally, you’ll create a good mix of content that will appeal to the different customer learning styles and what stage they are in the buying process. Some people prefer reading (like me!) others will scroll through a presentation or sit and watch a video.
You are sat on a mine of information that people want to know. Content creation isn’t just about the hard sell, it’s sharing information and establishing your presence online. Use your knowledge to reach out to your ideal customer and their influencers.
Content Creation Matrix
I found this infographic over on CopyBlogger that explains the type of content you can create and the ease of creating it.
How many do you use and will you be expanding your content creation efforts? Leave a note in the comments and let me know!
Click here for the full-sized infographic.
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You’re right about us getting caught up in our own industry terminology Jan, it’s easy to do. I often have to remind myself of this when drafting a proposal for a client.
Above every other technique that internet marketers employ, quality content is by far the most important attribute of any online campaign.
Content is king – or so they say 🙂 Thanks for popping in Steve and taking the time to comment.
Thanks for this, Jan
Did I do that? Anyway, this is a good overview and quick reminder of so many areas we can be keeping in front of prospects (and clients) – most requiring a minimal amount of time and smaller money investment. One area where I’d really like to get up to speed is audio. We have some related products (CDs we’ve converted to MP3s but still have to get these offerings out there – my partner handled the production), but I’m not using ‘snippets’ well for promotion, mostly because I’m challenged with the editor I’m using. In fact, if anyone’s interested in a collaborative effort where we can share the workload, research and promotion in putting some audio material out there, I’d certainly be open to an alliance team. Seems there are enough business bloggers with a similar audience that we could do something much greater together than alone.
Hi Nanette, audio is on my to-do list. It’s not an area I’ve explored much at all – and really wouldn’t know where to start with snippets either! Good luck with getting your audio out there 🙂
Jan, this is such a great post.
It is so easy to forget or ignore many of the options in the matrix. In fact, many of my clients (who are usually new to online) aren’t even aware they exist. Are the more complex options worth the extra effort? Absolutely.
Cheers, Caylie
Hi Caylie, I know exactly where you’re coming from working with clients who aren’t aware of some of the options too – it’s a whole new world of experiences for people to take in. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave your thoughts, I appreciate it 🙂
Hi jan
This is a very useful post I must say ….. I had to nab the url of the info graphic and put it in my useful things list!!
Keep em coming 🙂
cheers
Carl
It is a great little infographic, I love the grid layout. It’s in my useful things too, no doubt I’ll be using it again in the future! Thanks for popping in Carl and your comment 🙂
This is great! I had to save to my Evernote to go back to later (it’s late and I’m not digesting it LOL)
I love Evernote and snipping and clipping for later! Thanks for popping in Lis, I appreciate you taking the time to comment.