Most business owners have to consider priorities when it comes to their marketing. Whether they are getting blog posts or press releases written, or copy for their website, they both want and expect to get the best bang for their buck; they want to drive more traffic to their site and see readers engage with their message. There are many different ways to do this – we’re going to look at four key ones:

1. Make sure your home page grabs visitors’ attention – this is the first thing visitors to your site see and it’s the only chance you get to make that all-important first impression. A well-written landing page will pay off in spades. Always remember that readers’ attention spans, online, are notoriously short and that they may be comparing many different sites to find what they’re searching for. Ensure that every visitor to your site understands exactly what it is you are offering and how it can help them – preferably at first glimpse. Obviously, other pages on your site must also be effective, the site itself easy to navigate, and everything consistent with your message and your brand.
2. Refresh content regularly – to improve your Google rankings and enable more people to find your website, it’s imperative to keep refreshing the content. Regular blog posts (monthly, or preferably weekly) are the best and most cost-effective way to do this. If you don’t already have a blog – set one up as soon as possible. You can do it for free, or choose to pay a little more and gain more options. What should you blog about? Anything connected with your business that might interest potential clients. Have a cake-decorating business? Offer recipes or icing tips. Have a travel website? Write about unusual travel destinations. Own a winery? Write about different varieties of grapes or suggest food-wine pairings.You get the idea. This helps establish you as an expert in your field and readers will trust you as a source of useful and reliable information.
3. Distribute press releases on a regular basis – press releases can appear on your own site as news items but for maximum exposure they should also be distributed online by a reliable press release distribution agency. One we work with frequently is 24-7PressRelease.com but there are many out there to choose from. A good distributor will allow you to target particular industries and give you the opportunity to include images and videos. They should also give you a detailed report with statistics on how your release performs. Read last week’s post for tips on writing effective press releases.
4. Tell a story – readers love these and a personal story can be helpful in establishing your brand. You don’t need to go into every detail of the long history of your company or how you came to set it up, just something that gives readers a sense of who you are. Make them feel they are dealing with a real person, a friend even, that they can relate to. What is your passion? Share it!

Feeling a little overwhelmed? No time to write all that content? There are some shortcuts you can make. For example, your weekly blog post – if it’s in any way newsworthy – might be repurposed as a press release (a few changes will be needed; the writing styles are different and a press release is more formulaic) but you can save time by re-using much of the same content.

It goes without saying that anything that is publicized representing a business, either on its website or as a press release with the company’s name on it, must be professional, effective, and error free. Would you be tempted to do business with a website that contained typos, or grammatical errors? Likely not, it just doesn’t present a professional image.

If you need help – either writing from scratch or getting your own rough draft proofread or edited – just contact us; we are here to make your life easier!