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This podcast discusses about the importance of having quality topics for your business website.
Welcome to Webmaster For Hire’s CyberBulletin podcast. Get the power to increase your business’s web impact.
Elizabeth Varian: Hey, everybody. Elizabeth Varian here, Webmaster For Hire CEO and president. We’re coming with you with the podcast of CyberBulletin, and today’s topic is going to be content marketing and creating good topics. It’s a very important conversation to have that a lot of business owners don’t realize, so pay attention. It’s not going to be just me today. We’ve got Carrie Currie on the line. Hey, Carrie.
Carrie Currie: Hey, everybody.
Elizabeth Varian: So Carrie, before she was my executive assistant, her main role was creating topics for our clients. so I thought she was the best person to bring her knowledge and expertise to you guys. Why don’t we just jump in and get started, Carrie? I started from the beginning saying it’s a very important topic and a lot of business owners don’t know this, so why don’t you explain a little bit? Why is it a concern to have the quality topics?
Carrie Currie: There are 3 main reasons for it. The first is that good topics will bring your target demographic–the clients that you are catering to–to your site. That’s the first item, and then it also sets you apart as an authority in your field, which then generates trust.
Elizabeth Varian: Yes, expert status. Absolutely.
Carrie Currie: Right? Then, those that trust you are more likely to purchase from you and are also more likely to be loyal customers that will recommend you on social media and spread the word.
Elizabeth Varian: Yeah. Another thing to consider, which is why we have someone focused on topics, is Hummingbird changed the game with SEO years ago, and quality content is a definite must, so you’re right.
Carrie Currie: Right.
Elizabeth Varian: You need to have that loyalty following, and you really need to make sure that you are expert, so definitely good point. Who needs to worry about creating these good topics?
Carrie Currie: Well, it would be small businesses and startups that don’t really have the budget to hire experts like you and me. If they’re doing it on their own, they have to pay attention to what they’re doing, especially if they want to compete with others. Then, medium and large businesses that do hire internet marketing firms and/or do it in-house. They really do have to be on top of what’s being done on their behalf, and then…
Elizabeth Varian: Absolutely.
Carrie Currie: Right? Of course, internet marketing firms like Webmaster For Hire and content managers would want to pay attention to the quality that’s being done.
Elizabeth Varian: Absolutely, spot on. Knowing that right algorithm for tweaking it, so the topics are on point and searchable.
Carrie Currie: Right, and that changes all the time.
Elizabeth Varian: Yes. Definitely, and the internet is changing every day. Just a little plug of hiring someone like Webmaster For Hire, we know those algorithms. We know where the tools are and the tricks of the trade, so let’s talk about that. How do good topics … How are they going to set apart the authority from other competitors who are posting content, but they’re just pushing out whatever?
Carrie Currie: Right. It used to be that pretty much all you wanted to do was maintain constant activity on your website, and so you would reach out. They refer to them as “content mills,” where they just type up whatever and send it off, and it usually was pretty superficial and pathetic when I began. I would read these things going, “Why? Why would somebody write this? There’s no point.”
Elizabeth Varian: They’re just pushing out words.
Carrie Currie: Yeah, right? If you are creating original content and you’re using your own expertise and your own experience, and then also, if it’s accurate, that’s a big deal.
Elizabeth Varian: Absolutely. You can’t be an expert with fake information.
Carrie Currie: Exactly, and if it’s well-thought out and well-presented it does 2 things. It translates into professionalism, and it also makes you personable because people, they don’t trust businesses. They trust people.
Elizabeth Varian: Correct. Yes. People buy from people.
Carrie Currie: Yeah.
Elizabeth Varian: You’re so spot on with that. Good point. So how do the good topics … Making sure it’s quality, how does it project that trust that prompts someone to buy?
Carrie Currie: Okay, so some background about me. I was a psych major in college, so …
Elizabeth Varian: Ooh, I started out as one. Didn’t last long.
Carrie Currie: I love figuring out how people tick, and I love discovering new ways of thinking and getting to know people who are completely different from me, so that’s my own personality. When I was studying psychology and what I call the “psychology of trust,” I came across these three assumptions. As I was pondering this in terms of good content, it made sense to me that if a business abides by these three assumptions of trust in every interaction that they have with a potential customer, that customer will buy from them. The first assumption is, “If you need help, you can turn to someone you trust.” We learned that when we’re little, and we go to our mom.
Elizabeth Varian: Yup.
Carrie Currie: “I’m hungry. I need help,” or, “I skinned my knee.” We go to our mom.
Elizabeth Varian: Yes. That’s the whole basis of the Officer Friendly Program.
Carrie Currie: Oh, yeah?
Elizabeth Varian: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Carrie Currie: Okay. Cool. None of this is original. It’s just stuff I’d put together. Then, the assumption number 2 is, “if you need support, your trusted person will be there and will be happy to support you.” That is so important for a business to take … to internalize, and then assumption number 3 is, “You’ll be comforted and relieved by that support.”
Elizabeth Varian: Absolutely, or product. Yes.
Carrie Currie: Exactly … Yeah. Whatever it is that the business offers.
Elizabeth Varian: Yes.
Carrie Currie: Yeah.
Elizabeth Varian: The good topics, how are they providing that, those three?
Carrie Currie: First off, you become a trusted resource because they can go to your site. They can rely on the information that you provide. They know it’s accurate, and they know that it will help them out with whatever it is that they are in need of.
Elizabeth Varian: Absolutely.
Carrie Currie: That’s why you have …
Elizabeth Varian: You will then become the expert that becomes that trusted source?
Carrie Currie: Exactly.
Elizabeth Varian: Got you. Got you. Good points. Okay. We keep using the term “good topics.” What does that actually mean? What is a good topic?
Carrie Currie: There are a number of factors that play into it. The first is tied into SEO. SEO is Search Engine Optimization, and you use keywords to play the game with those algorithms. It’s really technical, and so I would recommend that you hire an expert.
Elizabeth Varian: Yes. Yes.
Carrie Currie: Yeah. You want high research keywords or keywords with a long-tail search opportunity, and you use that in your title, so your topic, and then in the word copy itself.
Elizabeth Varian: Absolutely. Let me piggyback on that.
Carrie Currie: Sure.
Elizabeth Varian: Hummingbird rolled out, everybody has a mobile phone in their hands now. I think in the middle of nowhere in Africa, they probably have cellphones as well. I’m seeing … Probably not true, but everyone who’s buying from you pretty much has a cellphone in their hand. The Hummingbird roll-out came and hit the industry very hard in the search engine optimization industry. About 80% of businesses’ websites either dropped out completely or dropped down drastically when that algorithm roll-out happened with Google.
What that algorithm says is … Okay. When everybody got on iPhone, everybody knows Siri. Google, it’s, “Hey Google,” whatever, or “Hey Galaxy,” is what my Samsung says, and so when you’re at a computer, and you’re typing, and you’re searching at your desk, you will put in, “West Palm Beach Pool Company.” Just topic keywords like you did when you were searching the old card catalog system, which current generations haven’t a clue what that is. When you’re in your phone though, “Hey, Siri. Where do I find the best West Palm Beach pool company?”
Carrie Currie: Right. They’re using the whole, complete question.
Elizabeth Varian: “How do I find a reliable pool company in West Palm Beach?”
Carrie Currie: Yeah.
Elizabeth Varian: They’re using … It’s more personalized because it’s in their hands, and Google recognized that 74% of people searching on the internet are actually searching through their mobile phones, which is why you need a responsive website, so that it’s fluid through the phones. They also realized that in your hands, people are more personalized, complete questions or sentences, which is what you’re calling the long-tail keywords. So to piggyback the good topic, your topic should be answering the questions people are asking Siri.
Carrie Currie: Right.
Elizabeth Varian: That’s exactly how you’ll rank with search engine optimization. You’ll show yourself as the expert. Very good points and just again piggyback that on the SEO. What are some resources out there? If I’m sitting at a blank Word document, or I’m on Mac, and I’m looking at a blank page, and I have no clue–I know my business inside and out. I’m not a writer, but I need to come up with some topics for my writers. What are some good resources to help get those good topics?
Carrie Currie: Okay. If you’re looking for full-on questions to go along with the Hummingbird algorithm, then my favorite, all-time favorite resource is Quora. That’s Q-U-O-R-A.com.
Elizabeth Varian: I love them.
Carrie Currie: Because you get an account and people actually do ask questions, and then you receive answers, and you can take a look at both the question and the answers to see what’s important to people in that particular field, and you can request like reports. When somebody posts about a particular keyword or subject matter, you can actually have them proactively send you with links to those particular posts.
Elizabeth Varian: Nice.
Carrie Currie: Right? That’s useful.
Elizabeth Varian: Sure. Yeah. Yes.
Carrie Currie: Right, so there’s that. You can also use Yahoo Questions. You can go to Google AdWords, their keyword planner. And more. There are so many different keyword type services. Some of them are paid. Some of them are free. The free ones were okay to start with, I guess, but you’ll get better results actually if you … I’m going to say this again. If you hire an expert who has already subscribed for their program because they get more robust results.
Elizabeth Varian: You have a paycheck coming today, don’t you?
Carrie Currie: I do.
Elizabeth Varian: I love that. Yeah. What we do is we produce the topics for our clients, and they approve them, and then we get our writers to write for them, so yes. I agree. Hire an expert. Do you have any final words on good topics that you would want to share with our listening audience?
Carrie Currie: You know, I do actually. We’ve talked about how you have to pay attention a little bit to SEO. A huge part of it is paying attention to what your customer base needs and addressing that. I would like to reiterate that you need to dig deeper than your competition and really …
Elizabeth Varian: Yes, just serve from the top.
Carrie Currie: Focus on how your blog, your content will add to the visitor’s experience of your website. Part of that is to bring the “why” of your company into play to really, really highlight that, and let me explain what that means. Years ago, I was watching a TED Talk by Simon Sinek, and it was actually on leadership, and he highlighted … He had like this board behind him, and he drew 3 circles within each other like a bull’s-eye. The outer circle was how a business does something … No, sorry. The outer circle was what a business does.
Elizabeth Varian: Okay.
Carrie Currie: The middle circle was how a business does something, and then the inner circle was why or …
Elizabeth Varian: Okay.
Carrie Currie: I’m sorry. I should say leaders, and businesses could apply this to how they operate. The “why” is, what gets you up in the morning? What are you passionate about?
Elizabeth Varian: Your purpose.
Carrie Currie: Exactly. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Then, the others are self-explanatory. He used Apple as a great example of how they used … How most people market from the outside in. They talk about the … what they have to sell, what the benefits are, and they rarely touch on the “why.” That doesn’t sell. People are motivated by emotion.
Elizabeth Varian: Yes.
Carrie Currie: What Apple did was based at, “We are an innovative company that rebels against the status quo, and we just happen to make computers, and iPads, and whatever.” I don’t know if you’ve noticed this. I’ve used Apple products, and I think they’re fine, but many of the people that use Apple products are like rabid, loyal Apple enthusiasts, so they’ve done something right.
Elizabeth Varian: Oh, Yeah. You walk into a meeting, they’re either iPhone or Android. I don’t think there’s a… won’t be the third-party. It’s like democrats, republicans. “No, you’re one or the other. You don’t get to change sides.”
Carrie Currie: Right. Exactly. What I did as a writer is any time I wrote something for somebody, I would try to identify what their “why” was and write to that.
Elizabeth Varian: Nice.
Carrie Currie: Yeah. If you’re looking … If you can figure out how to get your team of writers on board with that and really, really have them highlight your purpose, why your business exists in the first place, that will bring up emotion and engagement, and will add significantly to the quality of the content on your website.
Elizabeth Varian: Absolutely. Very good. Very well-stated too. And as Carrie has said a couple times, if you want to hire that expert, give Webmaster For Hire a call. Thank you so much for taking the time to really think that through today. I really appreciate it and learned quite a bit from you today. I hope our listening audience has as well. If you’d like to reach out to us for your marketing and writing, you can reach us at 561-822-9931. Again, 561-822-9931 or find us on the web at webmasterfor, F-O-R, hire.us. Until next time, have a wonderful day and go get those good topics. Bye.
Carrie Currie: Bye.
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