One Amazing Thing You Must Do to Grow Your Online Business

Do you run an online business? Are you looking for the ways to grow your online business?

Whether you’re a startup, or a veteran business owner/marketer, you probably face the constant challenge of generating leads and revenue.

There are many different channels and ways to generate leads and build customers. When you type your query in Google search box, “how to grow online business” you get results like this:

You’ll find here – 5, 10, or even 100 ways to grow your online business. Great! But this article will cover only one awesome way that will not only help you provide value to your audience but will also help you grow your online business .

Why Is Content So Important

How? Content.Your content will help you to connect with your audience and build a relationship with them.

Wondering why content is so important for you? Avinash Kaushik (Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google) shares his take :

“The good news is that the Internet has a way of delivering audiences without you even trying. Think of what SEO does. Think of what people do when they find great content, they amplify! This means if you have great content, you’ll get some people to connect with it.”

Do you know what happens every minute on the web – 500 hours of video uploaded on YouTube, 3.3 million Facebook posts, more than 1400 blogs published – so much noise out there.

How can you stand out? Engaging content lets you distinguish yourself from the crowd and grow your online business.

74 percent of B2B content marketers and 81 percent of B2C content marketers say customer retention is their primary goal. (a rel=”nofollow” href=”http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2016_B2B_Report_Final.pdf”> CMI ) It also helps you to retain your existing customers and convert them into your valuable customers.

Here are some tips to get more out from your customers.

1. Create high-quality content

Understand your customer’s journey and create content for them. Don’t just create anything or everything. Your content must deliver something valuable to them. If you don’t have anything valuable to say, don’t say it at all.

According to a recent Forrester report , 87 percent of B2B marketers struggle to create engaging content. There are some interactive ways to create high-quality content – a blog post, video, infographic, case study, Slideshare presentation, etc.

“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” ― Gary Vaynerchuk. Easier said than done, right? Here are some quick tips to create high-quality content:

  • Repurpose your content- take any your old blog post and convert it into infographic or video format.
  • Reach out to your audience and ask for ideas.
  • Find out what’s trending in your industry.
  • Craft a compelling and strong headline. Spend some time on it.
  • Use storytelling to deliver your message more clearly.
  • Sound like a human. Be conversational.
  • Use images and visuals in your article.
  • Break the content into lists and bullet points.
  • Keep it simple.

Try to create in-depth content. According to Backlinko, “the average word count of a Google first page result is 1,890 words.”

2. Distribute Content

You finished writing a content and published it. Now what? You just sit back and drink a cup of coffee. Right?

No, your job isn’t done yet. It’s time to distribute your content. Content distribution is essential to reach your target audience.

47% of buyers viewed three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep. Here I’ll give you some quick ideas to distribute your content through different channels:

  • Send your article to your email list every time you publish.
  • Repurpose your popular and great content into an email course.
  • Submit your post on Buzzfeed and Reddit.
  • Write answers on Quora which are relevant to your blog post and build an audience there.
  • Tweak your post and republish it on Medium and LinkedIn Pulse.
  • Think your article has great information? Pitch it to Huffington Post.
  • Share your infographics and visuals on Pinterest.
  • Share your post on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
  • Post your content to blogging communities – BlogEngage, Blokube , etc.
  • Reach out to influencers and brands you mention in your post.

3. Encourage audience to take actions by providing freebies

You must tell your readers what to do next. Make your content actionable and practical. Engagement must be your primary goal. Include a call-to-action or question in your content which encourages your readers to take an appropriate action.

Ask a question in your title (and give an answer in your article) to keep your audience engaged.Content upgrade and freebies are proven ways to give something valuable to your audience and increase your conversion.

Nathan Ellering, Content Marketing Lead at CoSchedule, shared his take on ‘content upgrade’ here :

“Write very detailed, actionable blog content. Provide additional bonus tips as a content upgrade, or provide a template of sorts to help your readers implement the advice they read about in your blog content. Use a tool like LeadBoxes from LeadPages to offer your content upgrade in exchange for an email address. That’s it.

And it’s the absolute best way to build an email list of active subscribers, just like how we’ve built a list of more than 100,000 subscribers at CoSchedule.”

If you’re an online retailer, you can create special offers and rewards for your potential customers – seasonal sales, birthday/anniversary sales, etc. Here are some content upgrade ideas for you to get started:

  • Create a PDF and offer it as an upgrade.
  • Cheat Sheet
  • Quick checklist
  • Videos
  • Case studies
  • eBook
  • Industry/survey report
  • Make your blog post printable
  • Swipe file
  • Customer’s interviews
  • Free templates
  • Free shipping
  • Free 30-days trial
  • Free course

Final Words

Do you want to generate leads, attract customers, boost conversion, and grow your business? Your website and blog must have great content because content is timeless. What do you do to grow your business? How do you create magnetic content? Or do you have any questions? Please share your views with us.

Author Bio:

Kunjal Panchal is a Digital Strategist and a social media geek. She is passionate about content marketing and strongly believes in the power of storytelling for marketing. A perfect day for her consists of reading her favorite author with a hot cuppa coffee. Find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.