Proof that Good Content Marketing Strategies Work | Freelance ...

Image from Forbes article about content marketing. Click image to read article.

A few weeks ago, I received some very gratifying news from one of my clients when they told me one of my articles had attracted more sales than any other in that month. Last week I received even more gratifying news when I learned that the company?s freelance writing team could ?feel more secure? writing for them because our articles were out earning other revenue sources. These were the exact words:

In terms of traffic sources, outbrain is number three ? a little behind Google organic ? with 100, 000 visits in March. In terms of jobs those sourced from articles have a higher average value (site average is $20 vs article $33)

Outbrain is a content marketing service that works in 2 ways:

1. Smarter Engagement
2. Smart content distribution

That?s about all I know about it, but it?s the second service, ?content distribution? that is the most interesting to me. I threw in the word ?smart? because Outbrain is not like those article distribution services that get articles published on thousands of low quality, irrelevant sites. In fact, they even have strict article quality guidelines, which may limit their client base, but attracts better paying clients and the trust of the high profile sites that advertise the content that comes from them.

Anyway, I breathed sigh of relief when I received that email because about a year ago, the company let go of most of their freelance writers and I?ve been wondering ever since if my days were numbered. Since they?ve been the source of up to half my income for over 2 1/2 years, that?s not something I want to happen. I know it?s a really bad idea to rely too heavily on one income stream and it?s something I?m working on, but haven?t quite gotten there yet.

At the same time they trimmed their article output, the company revamped their site, started using Outbrain and rethinking their SEO strategies. They had never been big on keyword stuffing and always put informative content above all else, but had been largely self-contained, relying heavily on search engine traffic. As the email above proves, spreading their content around more has been a successful content marketing strategy.

Content Marketing Strategies for the Budget Conscious

In a way, Outbrain?s services are a lot like a big-budget version of guest blogging, which is something I?ve never explored but am going to soon. I became convinced of its efficacy after reading a post by Carol Tice about how guest blogging helped her go from virtual obscurity to one of the most popular freelance writing blogs in the world.

As I?ve mentioned before, I blog primarily because I like to blog and it?s a welcome change from assignment writing. I also blog as an experiment, to see if the advice of internet marketing gurus really works. With a budget of zero, I can?t afford to pay for SEO or other services like Outbrain, but I have been able to verify a couple of the things the gurus often write about.

One of the things content marketing blogs preach is that banners and widget ads don?t perform nearly as well as relevant links placed in content. This has been my experience in spades:

• On my other site, Sihanoukville Journal, I get lots of little commissions for hotel bookings, but they drop off when I?m not writing about Sihanoukville accommodations.
• After writing two posts about Grammarly, I got several commissions. That was months ago and I haven?t made much of anything from Grammarly since. It?s a shame, because Grammarly is a great product.
• To my complete amazement, after writing a couple of posts about Transparent Corp?s brainwave entrainment product, Neuro-Programmer 3, I got a couple of healthy commissions within a couple of weeks. I say to my amazement because I didn?t think many freelance writers would be interested in brainwave entrainment products.

I don?t really want to turn either of my blogs into commercial blogs, but I don?t mind pushing good products once in awhile and when I do, it works.

Another thing the gurus teach is to market your content through social media channels. Frankly, this hasn?t been enormously successful for me, but I haven?t really tried very hard, either. It has helped, though, and if I had the time or inclination to try harder, I?m sure it would help even more.

My Twitter induced traffic spike. Note that it?s on the same day I published my blog, 17 March. It was all downhill from there.

Speaking of social media gives me an opportunity to share a quick story with you. A few weeks ago when I was in Phnom Penh, I wrote What Freelance Writers Can Learn from Propaganda. I expected nothing from it, but before I even tweeted the blog, someone I?d criticized must have gotten a ping, because within hours, I got a series of emails telling me I?d been mentioned on Twitter. Most of the mentions were in defense of the journalist I?d criticized, but it didn?t matter: I got a traffic spike here like I?ve never seen before and for the first time, Twitter was my main traffic source on this blog. Just goes to show that creating controversy is a good way to create traffic.

Proof that good content marketing strategies really work should come as good news to all freelance writers, because it shows that our efforts have value and we can expect to get paid accordingly.

Rob Schneider is a writer currently based in Sihanoukville Cambodia. Rob writes feature articles and web content for a number of Australian and U.S, companies as well as for his own blogs.

Source: http://www.writing-resources.org/content-marketing-strategies-work/

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