The Internet is like a beehive — activity coalesces around shared goals and interests. Build a site that appeals to common interests, and you’ll build organic readership that’s going to trump anything that your SEO team can dream up.
Traditional Search Engine Optimization
As the Internet has evolved, companies have tried all kinds of things to get their sites better rankings and more page views. They scramble to adapt to Google algorithm changes like Panda and Penguin. They fill workshops full of people building the perfect 500-word page with tags, meta-descriptions and more. But not as many of them focus on the core issue of developing a site that people really want to use.
The Long-Form Content Battle
Now, a lot more companies, especially the big dogs with lots of analytical and marketing firepower, are starting to go with a different approach. They’re building out editorial newsrooms and using new content methods to show real narratives, and really tell a story for their audiences. They’re also cutting closer to the common interests of readers with skilled commentators, experienced testimony, and other forms of writing that show they are really relevant to what’s happening today.
How Does It Work?
One example of investing in long-form content is to gauge the interests of the customer base and develop them. Let’s take an easy example and look at an auto site. Someone selling auto parts or auto insurance, or anything car-related, can put up a set of carefully keyworded pages for each manufacturer and model type, hoping to garner high Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page) rankings. Or, they can take a reporter and go to a show room and have that person actually talk to dealerships and report on what he or she sees.
With the first approach, page rankings can get temporarily pumped up, and the company might get some accidental traffic with people typing hasty Google searches. With this second approach, this site starts to build an actual readership. Other company people can jump in to optimize social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. to start building out, to get more and more people interested in what the site has to say. It’s important to know that social media is a great amplifier here — it’s no coincidence that more companies are taking a strong narrative approach now that they have social media departments that can post or tweet out anything that happens on their core web site.
How Do I Build a Good Site and Get Buzz?
Getting interest around your site starts with a creative approach, but it also necessitates good design work. At WebSubstance, we have experience getting a range of clients quality, high-design web projects that are “actionable” — sites that the company can build on with social media expansion and everything else discussed above. Build your site work on a firm foundation by going with the company with a reputation for excellence in web design and coding, along with extra services like photography and site optimization. We’ll be your partners in constructing something useful and exciting on the web.
