You know that you are starting to live and breathe internet marketing when you hear a song on the radio that has nothing to do with internet marketing and your brain immediately figures out how to apply it to internet marketing before the second verse.
You know you’re supposed to write a blog relating the song to internet marketing when you hear it again later that same day while watching a movie. Yes, this happened to me, so today’s internet marketing tips come to you with help from the group Extreme and their hit song “More Than Words.” Take a listen if you’d like then we’ll apply it – I promise – and you can leave me a comment letting me know if it worked or not.
Let’s take the first verse of the song:
Saying I love you
Is not the words I want to hear from you
It's not that I want you
Not to say, but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel
More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
'Cause I'd already know
When it comes to writing content for internet marketing you don’t want to just tell people what they want to hear. Instead, you want to make them feel something so it becomes real to them and they will take action and do something. Your potential customers are online searching for something in the first place. If you don’t stand out to them in some way, your competitors will.
How do you use more than words on the search engine results page?
1. A good, catchy title is important for your blog, or web page, or white paper, or ebook, or whatever is showing up on the results page.
Here are some good examples that would make me click to read more:
- Copy This “Oscar-Ready” Approach to Boost Your Social Media Star Power (from Copyblogger)
- Why I Hired the Fake Steve Jobs (from HubSpot)
2. You get your content to show up on the first page of search results by knowing the keywords and phrases that people are typing in.
3 …but even more than words you have to understand how to use the keyword phrases in your content appropriately so they will show up in the first place. You can learn how to do that here.
4. Then you want to write your content for humans and not for the search engines. This means that it is more than just the words on the page. It’s the story you tell. The picture you paint. The words that are put to music. It’s using good spelling and grammar, consistent flow, and knowing when to be snarky, when to be serious, when to use humor, and knowing if a metaphor or comparison works or not. Like this one I’m trying out in this internet marketing tips blog.
Now let’s take the second verse:
What would you do if my heart was torn in two
More than words to show you feel
That your love for me is real
What would you say if I took those words away
Then you couldn't make things new
Just by saying I love you
Let’s say as part of their research process your potential customer clicked on a link that lead to your website and a link that lead to a competitor’s website. If their heart is torn in two by which of you to choose, what might make them choose you? By including more than words in the content on your website you can help convert your customer into a lead by:
- Having a killer Call-to-Action (CTA) to tell the customer what to do next
- Providing something of value like a whitepaper or e-book
- Making sure the content on your website is relevant to what they searched for (if it’s keyworded right, it will be!)
- Link building to credible sites to help boost the authority of your site
- Including images, video and the right design components that make your website interesting, but not cluttered
Don’t get me wrong, the words themselves are extremely important, but when they’re combined with the other components of your internet marketing just mentioned above, you’ll have a dynamite strategy.
Now for the last verse:
Now that I've tried to talk to you and make you understand
All you have to do is close your eyes
And just reach out your hands and touch me
Hold me close don't ever let me go
More than words is all I ever needed you to show
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
'Cause I'd already know
Hopefully by having more than words as part of your internet marketing content you can get your customer to the stage where you have the opportunity to talk to them and make them understand the importance of the services you offer and how you can help them get more clients. As the lyrics above say, you want to hold them close and never let them go. Now that I’ve tried to make you understand that your content is more than words using the song by 90's rock band Extreme, what do you think? Did it work? Was it helpful?
