The “Publish or Perish” admonition has been associated with the requirement of those in academia to publish scholarly works. Scholars who publish gain recognition for their schools…and themselves. A publishing track record can lead to promotions.
Businesses need to take a page from academia.
These days, content is an even more powerful King than it used to be. Now, the Internet rules. And companies that want to grow are subject to its dictates.
If you want your business to show up in an online search, you must incorporate Content Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques on your website and in other published materials. You’ll see the most successful SEO results when you create, publish and promote your content. On a consistent basis. And that content should be helpful, valuable and relevant to your customer.
If you depend on the Internet to drive business and you don’t publish, you will perish. Without new content, your company slides further and further down the search page. At worst, you won’t show up at all.
In the business world, if nobody hears from you, you might as well not exist. Stay quiet and you’re opening the door for your competition — they’ll publish and take your place.
Here’s where to publish content so prospects will hear from you:
- On your website: the first stop for any content you create should be on your own website. Having a Blog or News page is the best way to continuously post new content which in turn, improves SEO. Your post should be engaging, helpful, valuable and relevant to your customer. It should be well-written (think structure), grammatically-correct, spell-checked and polished. The point (in addition to SEO) is to build your go-to expert status. It is not a pitch. Make sure that when you publish to do all the SEO “stuff” including meta descriptions, tags, applicable keywords and keyword phrases, an image with alt-text, link-backs to your site or links to relevant outside content, a Call-to-Action and contact information.
- LinkedIn Pulse: in addition to regular status updates, you should publish long-form content on LinkedIn’s Pulse network. Your LinkedIn network will be notified about the articles you have contributed. To publish, click on the grey pencil in the update box – this will take you to the template. Be sure to include your copy, relevant links within the article, an image and three tags identifying the article’s covered topics. The tags are important as LinkedIn algorithms refer to them when finding content to feature. You can only publish on your personal profile page (not your company page). I recommend that you publish primarily custom content as opposed to curated content. As with any content you publish, a well-written, grammatically-correct piece is imperative. Be sure to preview your article prior to hitting “Publish.”
- Business 2 Community: is an online content “magazine” targeting business and lifestyle topics. Read their Contributor Guidelines for the “How-To” information. If you plan on submitting a considerable amount of content, you may be asked to have your work syndicated (this includes a periodic “sweep” of your RSS Feed — Blog Page for example — to collect the work). Online publication of your work increases SEO (and your reputation).
- Medium: think of it as the world’s Tumblr site. To quote Medium on their About page, it’s: ”The stories that people you care about publish and recommend, delivered to you.” Anyone can publish on Medium — check it out and see if your think your work will work here. Publish an article and see the response: who follows you?, does your story get picked up in other publications?, is your story recommended?, etc. Remember to tag your article so interested readers will find you. You need a Twitter account to publish on Medium.
- Guest blog or publish articles in industry publications. Once you have created custom content, you really want to get “marketing mileage” out of it. In addition to the publications listed above, Google the phrase: “guest blogging (your industry here)” and look for the industry or topic you’re addressing. Many publications look for high-quality content that is relevant to their industry. From finance to law; engineering to manufacturing, there are loads of print and online publications that need content. Check out the various submission guidelines to find out policies. Remember, these publications are read by your potential customers — showing up here builds your credibility.
In addition to publications, make sure you are publishing on the social media platforms that your clients and prospects access. Whether it’s Facebook or LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+ or Instagram, an ongoing campaign builds your reputation and your SEO.
What’s the moral of this story? Don’t Perish, Publish!
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Publish or Perish! How Content Marketing Can Save You
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