Posted by When you take a step back and look at the internet, you realize how massive it is and how much content is out there, making it extremely difficult to stand out. Every industry is competing with local, national and global websites, attempting to attract valuable attention.
You need to publish content — I’m sure you have heard that a million times — but understand there is a major difference between just throwing up blog posts and creating compelling content that attracts attention, which can have a great impact your search engine optimization (SEO).
Your content needs to accomplish three things:
- Educate and entertain. Many consumers are seeking information about the product or service you are offering. Your content needs to educate them and answer as many questions as possible. The more potential questions you can eliminate right away, the greater the chance of them buying from you. Also, make your content entertaining — it helps you stand out in crowded industries.
- Connect. Brands that successfully connect with a potential customer on an emotional level win every time. An emotional connection can quickly turn a potential customer into a sale and valuable brand promoter.
- Convert. The end goal of every piece of content you produce should be to convert, whether that is generating leads, social media followers or direct sales. Conversions ultimately lead to revenue — and without revenue your business is dead in the water.
Here are four examples of content assets you can publish on your website that can help you attract attention in even the most crowded and saturated industries.
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1. Infographics
Infographics have been popular for several years and continue to produce great results because they work. Consumers are lazy and would rather interact with a visual piece of content over reading a long-winded blog post.
They are also highly shareable. If you have published infographics in the past, take a look at the number of visits, time spent on the page and the number of social shares each received — it will typically be much higher than traditional blog posts.
Many people assume their business isn’t infographic worthy, but with a little creativity it’s possible to publish a relevant infographic for any industry. Take a quick look at this infographic for the teeth whitening brand we own. It’s a general topic, but relevant to what we sell. We will be using this piece of content for an outreach campaign with the goal of securing some placements that will drive referral traffic back to the website that converts into sales.
2. Creative contact pages
There is one page that typically has the same look and feel on every website — the contact page. They are bland and standard, with most featuring an address, phone number and form submit option.
If you create a contact page that really stands out it will make a huge impact and can actually drive awareness — and website traffic. Neil Patel’s contact page for QuickSprout is one of the best I have seen. It’s actually an infographic that features a lot of interesting information and accomplishes two things. First, it helps to eliminate spammy, unwanted emails, and second, it gives people something to talk about.
I vividly remember people in the marketing world talking about this contact page when it was first published. This is a great example of how creativity can turn anything into something attention-worthy.
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3. Resource pages
If you are going to publish a resource page full of information, you can’t half-ass it — you have to go all-in and make it the best source of information for whatever topic it is covering. A standard blog post isn’t going to cut it — you need to go big and make a statement.
Look at this resource related to an airbag recall. It features videos, a very detailed table of contents and it even allows the reader to enter his or her vehicle identification number (VIN) to see if they are affected by the recall. It’s packed with information and presented in a way that provides a pleasant user experience.
When you create something so in-depth, you are going to reap the benefits of organic search traffic, but you also become such a valuable source of information that other articles and websites will link to your resource simply because they don’t have the time and energy to recreate something similar.
4. Explainer videos
I absolutely love creative explainer videos. They do a great job at holding the attention of potential customers and when executed properly, they can drum up a lot of buzz for your brand.
One of the first viral examples was Dollar Shave Club’s over the top video, which was being talked about on every media outlet at launch. That video undoubtedly contributed to the company’s initial success and eventual $1 billion-dollar acquisition.
Purple, a mattress company, also came to market with a very creative video. Many people actually compared it to the Dollar Shave Club video, in terms of comedic-impact. Creative videos put your brand on the map and get people talking about you. The amount of social sharing value both Dollar Shave Club and Purple received was priceless — value they would have never received if their videos were dull and generic.