Website Content and Marketing 101

Remember Websites are Marketing Tools
Today I was in a marketing and sales class / seminar by Kordell Norton. After the class, he asked what I got out of the series of classes and what was I going to implement. "I'm going to use what we talked about to update my website content", was one of my answers. Discussions about the sales processes and technique had reminded me that whatever marketing tools we use, their goal is to help us sell. Websites are no different, they should help you market and sell.

Marketing 101

Solve Problems - Websites should provide value to your customers offering solutions to their problems. Explaining benefits is great - much better than talking only about your features and benefits. If what you are selling doesn't explain that it will solve the problem a customer has, then you will not be able to make a sale.

For example, if you offer scuba lessons think about reasons people, interested in taking diving lessons, have given for not taking them:

• Not enough time for classes
• Not enough money to purchase equipment
• Don't know where the good local diving spots are. So aren't sure if the time invested will be worthwhile.

Offer Solutions - Can you offer solutions to those problems? Make sure you have landing pages that address each problem.

To address the local diving spot issue, have pages that talk about local diving spots. Include reviews of the various locations, rating them as good places or beginners or for more advanced divers. Offer packages with your dicing classes that include one or two trips to different diving grounds. Get testimonials from past students about how great their experience was diving with the other members of the class.

Choosing Your Content

Following good SEO practices, I would suggest that your landing page have the problem and related question in the title and headline of your page. For example, your page's title could be - Scuba Diving Locations in _________. The headline (h1 tag) on the page could read "Not sure where to go scuba diving in _______ after you are certified / or completed our scuba class". The subhead (h2 tag) might say "Enjoy your first diving experience. We offer discount group trips to _______ or ______ for all graduates of our scuba diving classes".

The rest of he page would be devoted to what a great experience people have taking on these trips and the memories people have. Pictures or videos of past students having fun on the dives would be good here. Once again don't forge the testimonials.

Websites as Marketing Tools

Websites should be great marketing tools for your business. If you plan them out and think about how to create content for them to help your marketing effort they can raise your company's bottom line.