How creating a website and SEO strategy requires a new “content marketing” mindset.
I remember the first website I created. It was the typical five-page website. I had a Home page along with separate pages for Services, Industries, About Us and Contact Us.
I organized my website in what seemed like a logical way. I used my home page to summarize my business and then guided people to my other pages.
Economy of pages was a high priority back then. The fewer pages the better, I thought. If I can fit all of my services on one page, why not? It would make it easier for visitors if they didn’t have to click around, I reasoned.
I assumed that the only reason people would visit my website was to learn about my business – and that those visitors would come to my home page first because that was the front door. Only then would they then go to my other pages.
Well, my assumptions were all wrong.
Over time, I started to develop more pages for my website. I started a blog, developed a section for tutorials, added case studies and wrote answers to common questions people ask. I created separate pages for each service, each industry and each project type – and I created spinoff pages from each of those.
In short, I create a lot of new content – some educational and some promotional – which expanded my website to nearly 200 pages.
Pretty soon I discovered that many people came to my website not to learn about me, but to read articles I had written on direct marketing, lead generation and copywriting.
And they found my articles after doing searches on Google, Yahoo and Bing.
To be sure, most of my visitors still come through the front door. They might have added my website to their favorites list, they might type in my URL directly or they might do a search on my company name.
But more and more were coming through my other doors.
The analytics prove my point
Take a look at my own Google Analytics report. It shows a list of my top five webpages by the number of “Entrances” to the website (right column). As you can see, after the Home Page which is number 1, all the other pages are blog posts.
Some of these visitors could be the result of a keyword search. Others are from links on other websites, blogs and social media networks.
Regardless of the source, these blog posts are bringing me new visitors who hopefully will read my post, click around looking for more information, then join my email list or download one of my free reports.
It takes a different mindset
For years, I saw my website as a multi-page brochure. I organized it in a way that made sense to me – and hopefully my visitors. My mindset was mostly promotional.
Now I have embraced more of an educational mindset. My plan is to build an ever-growing library of useful content on the topics related to my business.
And, as a result, I expect to be opening more and more doors to my website.
As for “The House of a Thousand Doors,” that could take a while. But it is definitely on the horizon.
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Written by Bob McCarthy
This article may be reprinted without permission as long as the article includes the following credit: Bob McCarthy is a freelance copywriter and consultant specializing in direct marketing and lead generation. His website is www.mccarthyandking.com. He can be reached at 508-473-8643 or by email at bob@mccarthyandking.com
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