I’m sure all of you have heard the phrase “content is king” so many times now you are sick of it. And I don’t blame you either. Particularly when you go through the heartbreaking experience of pouring your heart and soul into this piece of content and guess what? No one cares!
I know it can be devastating to go through this type of experience, but you shouldn’t let it deter you from creating more content and attempting more online marketing ventures. There are a variety of reasons why your great content isn’t getting the attention it deserves, and each of these reasons can be adjusted to your online marketing favor.
Is Your Content Really That “Great”?
Let’s face it. Most people way overestimate their abilities. You see them in just about any competitive reality TV show (like American Idol, America’s Got Talent, etc.) in which they are downright terrible and you just have to wonder how they could have ever convinced themselves they were good.
Alright, so maybe your content isn’t that bad, but ideally, you don’t want your content to just be good enough. It has to trump the vast amount of competing for content in some way, shape, or form. In my eyes, great content possesses certain qualities that make it stand out:
• Utility – Any content that provides the audience something useful to take with them will be highly valuable, sought after, remembered, and shared. If you pack your content with useful information, you will undoubtedly experience greater traffic, recognition, and support.
• Uniqueness – Content that hits you from an unexpected angle or takes a remarkable stance or idea will more often be remembered and shared. It is difficult to uncover unique things on the internet, but when uniqueness is found, excitement ensues.
• Polish – When you see content that is presented with extreme care and grace, you automatically respect the content source. Well executed content that shows effort can be hard to find but is easy to recognize.
How Are You Marketing Your Content?
If you truly have great content that meets at least one of the criteria listed above, then the only reason it can fail is due to ineffective marketing. As much as I wish great content could stand on its own, sometimes it has to be tweaked with just the right publication methods for it to really gain some recognition. Some general principles to consider in your marketing strategy are the following:
• Experiment with favorable publishing windows. You have to find the most ideal times that your audience will be online and hungry for content. If you are writing to a nine to five work crowd, consider publishing and promoting your content just before lunch time or right before five.
• Seek various promotional venues. This includes social media outlets, news aggregation sites like Reddit and Digg, and even other more popular websites that accept guest posters. Sometimes, in order to bring traffic to your site, you have to offer it in other more visible places first.
• Outreach, outreach, outreach. You cannot promote your content enough. Email your friends, your family, your peers, your competitors, and anyone you can possibly think of. Bring up your most amazing content to people more than once. Obviously, you don’t want to pester people away, but if you are persistent enough, they will at least give your content a chance.