Marketing Tip: Pillar Content

Sometimes it takes new technology to re-discover old truths. One of these truths is that for all media people are drawn towards quality content that internet marketers now call 'pillar content'. Such is the extent to which quality drives popularity that many websites thrive not through artificial link building but from popular momentum generated by free links, bookmarks, Facebook thumbs up and so on.

Basically if you add value you get more interest. When selling something it is only a successful ploy to wave a price tag under someone's eyes if they have already decided to buy. People who type 'buy adidas trainers' into google are more than 60% of the time going to do just that online. The conclusion being that being number one in google.com for 'buy adidas trainers' allows you to just place a big picture and a link on your page and you have a sale.

From the marketers viewpoint most buyers are still in the uncommitted stage. They are turned off by adverts but turned on by information. This is why free maps with advertising down the side is a successful marketing ploy: it is pilllar content and promotion.

This is the key - pillar content and promotion. So if you are trying to sell a Thai villa or other property then you need a website that offers good information about the surrounding area, visa regulations, weather etc. This specific information by itself will generate traffic.

For a brochure, it is sometimes a good idea to include some value in the printed media to make people hold onto it. That is the thinking behind coupons in magazines and newspapers. Again a map or a timetable or a list of useful telephone numbers and websites gives the brochure an element of pillar content that makes it a better promotional tool.

In short, it is about going the extra mile and not being totally in the face of the customer that ideas of buying can take seed and maybe go from thought to reality. And then you have a sale. That's when you want to be up there for 'buy adidas trainers'.

3 Steps for Promoting Your Website

Creating and promoting your own website has never been easier. This blog focuses on tips for people with a product related to the property market in Thailand.

In the old days making a website was a complicated and expensive affair involving mastering HTML code, Flash, php, Javascript and a host of other technical jargon. Chances are that if you have paid someone to make you a website then you are feeling held to ransom by your website designer. He or she probably wants money off you to update your site. They probably want money to Search Engine Optimize your site, they probably want money from you to get links to your site. In short, it is a bottomless hole you have committed yourself to.

That`s why more and more people are shunning using web design companies and doing their own websites. And as this route becomes more popular so the resources available to the amateur become more powerful. All you need is the ability to re-size photos and a bit of patience.

The biggest help comes from www.wordpress.com. They offer free websites if you are willing to have the phrase ‘wordpress’ in your domain name e.g. hotpropertyinphangan.wordpress.com. Just sign up for free and start fiddling around. Wordpress offers a variety of website templates called ‘themes’. You can customize a theme by adding your own header (this is why you need to be able to re-size pictures). You can add as many navigational tabs as you want, you can add your own links, you can set up a gallery page and you can add video clips (hosted free on youtube or daily motion). At first it will be frustrating but you will be surprised how quickly you get the hang of using wordpress. Once you are on the wordpress path you will start to notice how many people are adapting wordpress themes to make their sites. By using the tags function you can pick keywords and do your own basic SEO. It`s all there. And what`s more, the wordpress dashboard for your site also provides stats about how many people are visiting your site, what pages they are looking at and how they got to your site (i.e. through a search engine or through a link).

After you have got the hang of using wordpress the next step is to find a hosting company that will let you register your own domain name and has the feature called ‘fantastico’. Fantastico is fantastic because it allows you to put up your own website using the wordpress interface, which makes the process the same as making a normal free wordpress site. Once you have done this you can easily update your site, change the site look and improve on your tags and links. This is step two completed.

At this point you might want to abandon your expensively designed site or you might prefer to use your wordpress sites as linking vehicles to your main site. Remember that one way links are more powerful than reciprocal links.

Resources 


1) www.wordpress.com (great looking free and paid for websites. Big selection of 'themes' (templates) to choose from.
2) www.blogger.com (free blogs which allow you to monetize with adwords)
3) www.netfirms.com (the cheapest place to buy domain names).
4) www.google.com/analytics - by far the best web stats program. It's free to sign up and you simply paste in a bit of code into your site or template to get comprehensive information about your website's visitors.
5) www.adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal - Another great tool by Google. You simply put in a keyword or phrase and find out how many searches were made using that word/those words. And how much advertisers are prepared to pay for those keywords. This gives you a good idea of your market and what keywords you should be aiming to get high rankings for.
6) www.freewebsubmission.com - A good place to start promoting your new website.