content writers | Content for Biz Inc.

Content Lessons From High School Football

Can a high school football game uncover content lessons for B2B companies? You bet, at least in the mind of this content writer. While watching the game I get an understanding of why it’s important to assess opponents, signal a new play, execute, and connect with an audience. Watch this video that shows a fake handoff by the quarterback, a play that initiates a 65-yard run to score a touchdown. That play didn’t just happen. It was planned.

Understand your Opponents

Your competition is one form of opponent but another is the customer who struggles with his or her end goals, resources and budget. Content that acknowledges those concerns is like good blockers paving the way for the quarterback’s run.

Signal a New Play

If the passes are not caught and the handoffs go nowhere, reimagine your role. No football game is the same and the same holds true for company initiatives. High school kids hear from the coach: “Don’t repeat your mistakes, learn from them.” For companies, content is measureable. Sometimes it takes a bit of tweaking but you can reach your content goals. Yesterday’s content won’t support new ideas.

Execute

Watch what the quarterback does to make the opponent team change direction. You want your content to do the same – get your audience to change direction toward your solution. Get them thinking differently about what is important, performance and balancing cost.

You Gotta Feel It

Include some sensory element that allows your audience to experience emotion. At the football game you hear the roar of the crowd and clapping. Content writers use language and visual design to create mood and tone.

Add an unexpected connection the way this home game announcer did after reporting the touchdown play: “That a boy.” And, “This kid is deceivingly fast.” As for the quarterback, he said: “Just before the play I had a feeling: ‘This is it.” That’s the feeling your content can relay: This is it.

Too Much Noise on Your Content Page?

Content consumers are busy. They want your company to create, edit, and distribute content that is relevant to their purpose or problem. A clean and effective content page gets visitors engaged right way. Here are four examples of content that engages.

Simplify

Delete one third of what’s on your content page. That’s the challenge. Simple is hard to do but it is effective. Flex-Drain could have added lots of text about why they are better than their competition but instead chose this fun approach using video. Watch it.

Be Purposeful

I like how Freight Center offers visitors a way to interact with their product right away. They sell web-based tools to help shippers comparative shop. Buttons on the Home page invite visitors to calculate freight rates, get instant pricing, and track a shipment. Who could resist?

Get Rid of Moving Objects

Let the visitor choose what to engage with. Here’s a good example at InnerMost Cabinets. The faded images at each side of the primary photo stay in place until you click on them. Nothing interrupts one’s initial impression of more and discovery.

Focus on Navigation

Let visual design direct the visitor. A restaurant Home page without food photos? The Nagomi website offers a clean, simple navigation design that does double duty in making the visitor feel welcomed and well served.

For business, the best messages online are those that the visitor chooses. Good content writers know this and make it a part of their overall content strategy. When there is too much noise on your content page, visitors will move on and you miss an opportunity. Let your content page speak to them softly, directly and persuasively.

How Content Writers Find Real-Time Industry News In One Place

Finding real-time industry and product news from multiple sources in one place is a massive time saver. It allows content writers to work smarter. With no fees or even login requirements, I find a treasure trove of news by industry, company or product using Yahoo! News. That’s right. Yahoo! At Content For Biz Inc we deliver content marketing programs for companies mostly in the Transportation, Food Service and Construction industries. Content writers do more than write content. They optimize for search engines and market what they write. They research, listen to and understand the environment in which their clients compete. Here is one way to stay on top of the news.

Begin at this Yahoo! page (http://biz.yahoo.com/pr.html). I am including the whole link here because it’s not easy to find and can be confused with less robust pages on the site. Enter a keyword in the Search News box. A single listing of what news is being distributed via press releases, wire services and other reputable sources appears.

One of the great features on this page is Filter By Source (something Google News does not have). All Sources is the default. Select Yahoo! Finance to see press releases. Select the New York Times for easy access to their articles. Don’t be surprised if your local newspaper appears as a source. In fact, put in the name of a product or company and the Source options change. This is a good way to target publications and writers interested in your kind of news.

The next best feature is the Filter By Time. You can see a single listing of press releases, wire service stories and other news in the past hour, day or week. Yahoo! In the same left column under the Filter By Time, Related Concepts generates suggestions for other keywords to use in your search.

With the information I gain I can do the following:

– Write blog posts related to current issues

– Add relevant links to social media posts

– Comment on articles pertinent to client audience

– Target press releases to relevant publications and sites

– Find journalists who write about the industry, product or company

– Gain business intelligence on competitors

– Create website content that positions client as thought leader

– Find sources and conduct research for white papers & webinars

Having multiple sources of real-time industry news in one place is a time saver for transportation content writers and marketers in all industries. Finding such news by media source can serve your clients well.

Any thoughts on how you navigate the Internet for relevant information?

Problem-Finding Inspires Construction Content Writers

To attract prospects to your website, construction content writers should practice the art of problem-finding. Identifying the problems your products or services solve is key to creating content that will be a magnet for web traffic. Answers to “What’s the problem?” aren’t always apparent. Uncovering how your products and services solve problems is good for both business and content.

Track pad manufacturer BLS has done a great job of identifying and solving customer problems. Track pads protect streets from the damaging effects of track-type construction vehicles. But when a customer asked BLS founder Barry Stoughton to find something that would last longer, he decided to make the pads out of polyurethane instead of rubber. Longer-lasting pads reduced the cost for contractors.

Barry followed his customer’s balance sheets to identify more problems, and then solutions. Knowing equipment maintenance is costly, Barry soon manufactured clip-on and bolt-on track pads that could be installed faster. Other BLS track pads are designed to minimize soil compaction. Each problem has its own audience.

Listen in on conversations about your products on social media. Participate in discussions on Forums and within LinkedIn groups to learn the language of customers. Problem-focused web content can even lead to new applications for the product. Knowing what equipment works best in a specific construction application adds value, as does versatility.

Take a lesson from WD 40 — a brand built around more than 2,000 uses of the product. Does your website encourage questions and foster community like WD 40’s?

Here are some good ways construction marketers and content writers can find “problem” talk for their website:

1) Create your very own contractor forum.

2) Ask customers to submit new applications for your product.

2) Conduct customer interviews among different types of customer groups such as landscapers vs. building contractors.

3) Monitor forums for questions related to your products. Start a Q&A column or blog on your website.

4) Develop an advisory board for your product comprised of people who use the product or service regularly.

5) Solicit product usage tips from the professionals and build community around information sharing.

6) Give fans reasons to interact with you. Find a good cause to unite you.

7) Celebrate your customers. Submit photos of customers using the product to feature on the site. Reward great photos as well as interesting product applications.

You can’t solve a problem until you fully understand it. Make problem-finding research part of your process.

With Google On Our Side

When people talk about the rise of China’s global economic power, I counter with: “Yeah, but we have Google.” Some times when people ask me a question I don’t know the answer to, I reply: “Google it.”

As a content writer, Google and I share a goal – useful, quality content on the Internet. As stated in their Best practices #1: “Focus on the user and all else will follow.” It’s no longer a David vs. Goliath world. People and companies with good ideas and good products can prosper no matter what size.

A vice president at a telecommunications company said he was astonished by what Google knew about their customers. The information was deeper and broader than anything the company had. It kind of scared him. With such knowledge comes revenue and responsibility. Decisions need to be made along the way. From what I see, Google is heading in the right direction.

Emphasis on Quality Content

I tire of seeing those who manipulate online pages be in more demand than those who create good content. With its latest changes, Google seems to be tired of it too. Changes in its algorithm, Penguin, aim to rid us of schemers who use keyword stuffing and link tactics to improve rankings. Such practices are like playing multiple balls on each hole during a round of golf or adding clubs beyond the limit rule.

From Google Best practices #3: Does this help my users? What if all the time companies spend on questionable SEO tactics was used instead to develop original, quality content for their audience? Another Google change, Panda, focuses on promoting sites with such content. Well-researched articles, in-depth reports, and thoughtful analysis are being rewarded with high rank. If you think this kind of content comes only from big companies with swarms of subject matter experts, think again. You may be surprised by what a company owner and a good content writer can create.

With Google on our side, content writers can empower companies by focusing on and helping their audience.