By Deborah Sweeney
June 20, 2013
Content marketing has become one of the most talked-about topics this year, with many analysts predicting that a solid content strategy will soon become one of the cornerstones of an effective SEO campaign. Google loves well-written, natural content, so writing interesting, informative posts for your own website is a great way to start boosting your online presence. Eventually, however, you really need to move past blogging on your own site if you want to make an impact for your business. Finding and writing with influential outside outlets can bring your message, and your business, to an entirely new audience - one that may have otherwise never known who you were or what your company did. But how do you find other outlets to write with? What is the best way to get noticed by them?
Write Solid Content (Obviously)
This probably should go without saying, but if you fill your blog with boring, uninformative posts, or worse, advertisements about how awesome your brand is, no one is going to take notice. In fact, the more you keep sticking to that theme, the more likely it is that they may actively avoid you and your blog. But how do you produce content that people want to actually read that still ties in with your business? The first rule of thumb is to figure out what your area of expertise is. If you have several years under your belt in owning and operating a startup, then your posts should reflect that. Using your own experience will significantly impact the readability of your posts, and will make them much more interesting. Remember, you are competing against countless blogs and websites for your audience’s attention. By sharing examples of mistakes made early on in the business, you can provide the audience with the benefit of your own personal experience, and one that they will likely relate to. And, when you do start posting regularly, it’ll also be up to you to-¦
Be Your Own Publicist
It pretty much goes without saying that in order to effectively market online today you need a social media presence established with a Facebook profile, Twitter account, and Google+ page all in place. If you use these three sites properly, and don’t drown out your tweets with a pile of hashtags, you’ll be able to spread out your posts from both your blog and other outlets to your followers. As you begin to blog with more websites, you’ll also begin to draw in small amounts of new followers. Your social profiles, then, start acting as hubs to the rest of your content, allowing outlets you haven’t worked with to find other articles you have written. You also need to ensure that you include links back to your site, and to your social profiles, in the author bio section of any post you provide to an outside outlet - make it easy for other sites to contact you if they want to ask for a post. However, for the most part, it will be up to you to contact them, so it is extremely important to-¦
Take Initiative
Don’t just expect sites like Mashable and Entrepreneur to come knocking at your door, begging you to post with them - it seldom, if ever, works out that way for a small business. Network as much as you can both online and off, follow other writers and outlets on their Twitter accounts, and start sending introductory emails inquiring if they are looking for guest posts. If you were an effective publicist for yourself, they will be able to do a quick Google search of your name and find other articles you have written. That presence helps build the case for why they should let you post in their outlet. If all you have to show of your “published contributing writer career” are a couple of posts in your own site’s blog, then you may not get a response back. It’s all about perseverance and practice at the beginning - your writing will get better as you continue to write, and solid content will open doors to other outlets, making it easier to spread your name, and brand, elsewhere.
It’s always tempting to try and find an easy way to get noticed by blogs and digital news sites – that’s why you see businesses on Twitter dedicating 75% of their tweets to hashtags. But the best way to get noticed by outside outlets is to let your writing speak for itself. Pour a little bit of your personality and business experience into your posts, promote them out through your social media channels, and don’t be afraid to send out a couple of cold emails to your favorite sites asking to post with them. As time goes on and your portfolio grows, you’ll find your brand, and its voice created within the blog posts, will be turning many influential heads toward it.
Based out of Calabasas, Calif., Deborah Sweeney is the CEO of MyCorporation.com, the leader in online legal filing services for entrepreneurs and businesses, providing startup bundles that include corporation and LLC formation, registered agent, DBA, and trademark and copyright filing services. Follow her on Twitter @deborahsweeney or email her at [email protected].
