What Is Web Content Marketing?

Every second of the day, human beings are deluged by media content in one form or another. At the heart of all this content is usually the need for somebody to make money.

Traditional means of getting customers and making money is to take any medium – especially entertainment, like television or radio programming – and sandwich advertising such as commercials and ad spots in between the main attraction. This is called interruption marketing because it interrupts something you’re paying attention to and attempts to divert that attention to sell to you.

This type of marketing content is often fairly aggressive and in-your-face. Out of necessity, these ads have to be extremely condensed. Their content has about thirty seconds to build trust, establish authority in the marketplace and make their sales pitch.

The Internet has radically altered the way content of any sort is delivered and digested by the public.

To begin with, the Internet consumer is generally searching for something specific. They’re not up for passively enduring an annoying sales pitch before hearing the next song.

And secondly, when they do find a website that interests them, they have much more than a 30-second time slot to engage with it. They can easily bookmark it for later or add it to their favorites.

The downside of the Web is that it is easier and cheaper than ever to bombard us with all those interruptive forms of advertising. In many ways, the web has become a content shotgun. Cookies and pop-ups of every description are reaching out of your screen to pull you in to buy something.

Such a sea of crass advertising puts viewers on their guard, so when searching for legitimate websites on a specific topic, it’s often very difficult to determine which site presents the truth.

There needs to be some way to gain a viewer’s trust.

Enter Web Content Marketing

Web content marketing is the modern marketing method based more on psychology than button-pushing tricks.

It attracts prospective buyers by giving away a wealth of information to help them solve problems, inspire ideas and ultimately make money.

Information is delivered in the form of articles, podcasts, videos, social media, eBooks and webinars. A really well-integrated site will utilize all of them.

The website not only conveys authority on the topic through this content giveaway, but simultaneously builds trust by eliminating the “Hard Sell” in leading to the Call-To-Action.

Content vs. Web Content Marketing

The difference between web content, itself, and web content marketing is how content is used.

Content – blog posts, videos, audios, infographics, etc. – is published all the time, but that doesn’t mean that everyone publishing content is engaging in web content marketing. The glut of content available is testament to that.

Web content marketing is the production and publication of free content with a purpose and a plan and – as Copyblogger states, that purpose and plan is “to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers into repeat buyers.”.

A great analogy for traditional marketing vs. web content marketing is that we can choose which route to take with respect to our marketing techniques: go for the jugular immediately or charm them into wanting the bite.

Ingredients Of Web Content Marketing

Web content marketing can be synthesized into four main elements:

• Building trust.
• Establishing authority in your market.
• Giving away useful information.
• The Call to Action.

Building Trust

One of the primary features that makes content marketing unique is that it works on a more personal level where the site visitor feels as though they get to know you – the website owner – as a resource that they can trust.

“ . . . Not only are people quick to form first impressions, they are also fairly accurate when the target presents him or herself genuinely. (- Eric Wargo)

Insincerity can be spotted pretty fast. Honesty combined with personal anecdotes of both success and failure – particularly failure – draw people in because these traits are common to all of us.

By showing visitors that even you have had to overcome failure to become a success gives an unbelievable feeling of hope for their own enterprises. This hope is like an addictive drug in that when a person is struggling in their business, hope can be the lifeline that keeps them from quitting.

Anyone who can give another human being hope will be rewarded with loyalty.

Establishing Authority

Credibility establishes authority, and authority goes hand-in-hand with establishing trust.

This is where giving comes into play. And where showing is better than telling. All of those blog posts, articles, podcasts, webinars, etc., will show your expertise and establish your authority for you by implication. You can be a mild-mannered Clark Kent and change into Superman through your content.

How Much To Give Away

The single most difficult challenge in web content marketing is attempting to figure out what to give away and what to sell. If you don’t give away enough, you won’t achieve all the other outcomes you’re striving for such as building trust and establishing authority. If you give away too much, you’ll have nothing to sell.

People who are looking for practical information ideally would like you to hold their hand while walking them step-by-step through a foolproof method of achieving their goal. A rule of thumb is to give away the basic premise of what they need to achieve their goal, but hold back the exact “How-To” for the Call-To-Action button.

You want to give them the car body, then sell them the engine!

Web Content Marketing and Your Business

Implementing web content marketing for your business isn’t difficult, but it can be overwhelming, especially if you dive in without a specific purpose and a workable plan.

So, I’ve created an eCourse to help you with determining that purpose and creating a plan.

There are five keys to creating a solid content creation and publishing system, and you will learn these five keys in my new Web Content Marketing 101 eCourse. By the end – in just a week’s time – you’ll have a solid system in place to get you started.

You’ll also learn how to monitor and tweak your system to make it increasingly more effective as time goes on.

Put the power of web content marketing to work in your business! Sign up below!