Published:

02/25/2014 03:04pm

3 Ways to Get Ideal Customers to Your Site Without Blogging

It’s the question I get more often than any other when I’m talking with business owners about having a content strategy.It’s the question I see most often as a American Express OpenForum Advisor from new entrepreneurs and experienced business owners.It’s the hook most online marketing courses use to attract your attention and get you to buy their products and services.How do I get ideal customers to my site (without blogging)?While, some people may turn to outsourcing and hiring a copywriter, this isn’t always a feasible solution– especially for start-ups on a budget.Here’s how to get the attention of those all-important ideal customers — the men and women who are in the market to buy what you have to sell — without blogging.1. Create an InfographicWell-produced infographics — those that are created to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience — often have a higher probability of bringing ideal customers to your site, as people enjoy sharing data portrayed in a visual format.While infographics usually aren’t cheap to produce (unless you have an in-house graphic designer), there are services online that offers templates to design an inforgraphic at a low cost.Note: Conducting customer surveys is a popular method of gathering data for infographics.2. Produce a YouTube VideoYouTube is the second most popular search engine next to Google. It’s also owned by Google, and Google gives priority to its videos within search results. You can shoot a short video (one to three minutes) with your iPhone, upload it to YouTube and promote it across your social media channels.Keep in mind, What kinds of things do your customers want to know how to do?Successful businesses are based around solving customer problems. Figure out some problems that lend themselves to a how-to video. Launch a series on YouTube on how to solve a problem that interests your customers, and make sure it’s extremely easy for those viewers (and potential customers) to find your site.Note: Use YouTube videos for entry-level tips and strategies. For the more advanced advice, send them to your site … and possibly on to your products and services.3. Get Offline to Get Customers OnlineA lot of business owners ignore the possibilities of finding traffic in the offline world. (You know, the part of your life that isn’t Facebook, Google+, or Twitter. I realize this is a out-of-the-box idea.)If you’re selling business-to-business, look for events to speak at, workshops you can facilitate, or trade journals and business newspapers you can place articles in. Depending on your business, direct mail can be a surprisingly good way to find new leads.However you find them, entice those offline prospects to your website with a great piece of content like a white paper, a how-to video, or a killer infographic.None of this works if your content sucksRemember, content only works if you can create content that’s both relevant and useful to your ideal customers and current customers.Make it user-friendly. Make it clear. Write about the problems your potential customers care about.About the Author: Patrick McFadden is the marketing consultant to call when you want SALES … not just words.. He is also an advisor and featured marketing contributor to American Express Open Forum and has been named a marketing thought leader for small businesses.