SEO | Content Strategy | Content Creation

Need Help? Call Us! (800) 316-9664

content development

American Express: Content Development Through the Ages

by

American Express’s inception was in 1850 and has grown to be an international company. With over a century of experience, there’s a lot to learn from the company’s content development. Whether it’s their international credit cards, larger financial corporation, or the infamous AmEx abbreviation, the company has shown resilience and adaptability. Let’s explore how we can learn from their content strategy.

AmEx’s Web Content Management

At first, American Express was made to provide express courier service that delivered valuables throughout upstate New York. Forty years later, the company expanded to offer traveler’s checks and added a travel agency service in 1915. From that point on, American Express branded itself as the “world’s largest travel agency.” This core part of its identity hasn’t changed, even when it moved to web content management.

Before the Internet

To understand where American Express is now, it’s important to know how they got there. As previously mentioned, American Express started its marketing campaign as the biggest travel agency by publishing travel guides.

In fact, in a 1950 edition of the Information Please Almanac, American Express made a huge contribution to the special travel addition. This move was ahead of its time, as it mimicked the ways sponsored content is created today. They published profiles of travel hotspots with convenient information on local American Express offices below each one.

And in 1967, the company began publishing its own brochures called the American Express Travelers Guide. This included community descriptions, tourist sites, places to stay and eat, and more. And just one year later, the company purchased Camera Publishing Co. which published some magazines and a monthly travel magazine. More importantly, the magazines were a place to regularly promote American Express services and were subscription-based.

The next step was a heavy rebranding of the magazine to bring in more subscribers. For a whole month, American Express did a direct mail campaign that reached over 1 million people. Within a year, the magazine became the highest-selling publication and was renamed Travel + Leisure in 1972. To this day, the magazine is still publishing editions.

Creating OPEN Forum

In 1993, American Express took a hands-off approach with its magazines and publishing when it gave the responsibilities to TIME Inc. The internet was just starting out, publications were going digital, and companies were experimenting with online branding. But in 2007, American Express launched OPEN Forum.

The goal was to create an online hub where experts can advise on marketing, hiring, and growth with small business owners. OPEN Forum is informal and highly interactive, and users can post questions where anyone can answer them. Soon enough, the online hub reached millions of people and expanded American Express’ reach.  

Shortly after in 2013, the company sold its publishing rights to TIME Inc. as digitized marketing grew.

Web Content Strategy Tips

American Express has been in business for over a century and has been able to solidify itself as a top company. Looking at the history and different media the company evolved with, we can learn two lessons when making a web content strategy.

1. Attitude and Approach

American Express’ work proves that marketing isn’t about the medium. It’s about having a positive attitude and a confident approach. And media is always evolving as trends come, go, and change the marketing landscape. As the world advances further with technology, companies have to also adjust. If a business isn’t confident in its marketing strategy, it may be doomed to fail.

2. Adjusting to Evolving Media

American Express’ marketing strategy has been flexible with changing media. It started small with travel brochures and worked its way up to well-known magazines. Plus, they did so before transitioning to online forums and branding. While the transition looks seamless, companies should take note. A strong strategy grows with the company and the times.

Expand Your Content Development

Web Content Development offers digital marketing and content services to a broad range of clients. If you’re looking to give your content development a boost, don’t hesitate to contact our team today.

The 10 Elements of Content Development All Business Owners Need to Know

by

In today’s technological age, every business benefits from having good online content.  Every company is a content company, whether you are selling food, legal services or vehicles.  But what does content development actually look like? Here are ten elements of content development all business owners should know.

1. What is the theme of your content development?

When developing content for your business, you want to make sure you have a consistent theme.  Everything should fit within your brand. Additionally, customers should be able to recognize what company is producing the content.

2. SEO

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is critical in a content company.  What’s the point of having great content if no one is going to see it? SEO helps your website appear higher in search engine results. Also, it makes it more likely potential customers will click over to your site.

3. Helpful and informative content

Your content should meet some needs that your customers have.  Whether it is answering frequently asked questions or adding extra information within your field, content should be helpful and informative. 

4. Content development needs a consistent voice  

Even if your content is being created by multiple different ghostwriters, it should all sound similar.  Your company should have a consistent voice across all types of content development. Furthermore, this is an important part of sounding established as a brand.

5. Comprehensive

Your content should answer any questions your customers might have.  Therefore, if someone comes to your website looking for an answer to a question, they should be able to find it quickly and easily.  Having a comprehensive library of information helps your clients and benefits you by keeping them around for longer.

6. Content development must work across multiple channels

When you are thinking about web content development, you want to create something that works across multiple channels.  It is not enough to just have a basic website. Therefore, companies should utilize all the platforms they have available to them, from social media accounts to blogs.  Having your content available in pictures, text, and videos makes it appealing to a wider audience. Finally, when it comes to content development, variety is key.

7. Design/ visuals

It may sound basic, but having a good design is an important part of having good content.  If you don’t have good visuals, people won’t be intrigued. Furthermore, if your design is messy or difficult to read, people will leave your website before they even start really looking around.

8. Call to action

Your content should include a call to action.  Whether that is buying something from your company or simply going to another page on the site, there should be clear direction about what a customer should do after consuming a piece of content.

9. Research

Your content should be informative and research-based.  Ideally, you want to be able to draw in people that don’t even know about your brand.  Additionally, by focusing some of your content development on creating informative blog posts, how-to guides, or other similar content, you can reach a wider audience (especially if you have good SEO alongside these things).

10. Updated

All of your web content should be up to date.  This can get overwhelming, but it is so important.  If someone goes to your company’s Facebook or Instagram and sees that it has not been updated for months, that does not look good for your business.  All content should be updated regularly, especially social media.

Need help with content development?

Web Content Development can help companies of any size create an individualized marketing strategy.  They can help with everything from SEO to branding to content creation. Visit their website to learn more.

Does Content Development Really Work? Here’s 3 Brand Studies that Show It Does

by

In this modern age, it’s possible to attract thousands of consumers through social media. Web content development is meant to attract a larger audience for your business. Furthermore, it is meant to keep this audience engaged. While this sounds great, you may be wondering if it actually works. There are many great content development success stories. Here are three successes that particularly stand out. 

The Content Development at Buffer 

Buffer has attracted 400,000 users. Also, they have around one million followers across various social media websites. How? A three-pronged content development strategy. For its initial growth, this company used guest blogging. Guest blogging is a method used to increase web traffic. Guest bloggers help build brand awareness by attracting new audiences to a brand. With regular fresh content, published to popular sites, Buffer attracted 100,000 users. 

Working on their own blog has also helped Buffer find popularity. Buffer has four blogs where they share the victories and hardships they have experienced. Furthermore, they pass along their best, shareable content through email. 

Buffer is a great example of content development success. Their web content developer did things in a simple, yet efficient way. By inviting guests to write about the company, they easily raised visibility. Additionally, consistently updated blogs, shared via email, kept Buffer users engaged. These tactics seem simple right? They are, and they attracted around one million followers to Buffer. 

Hubspot’s Content Development

Hubspot is a prime example of content development success. Hubspot’s web content developer used four approaches. First, Hubspot maintained a detailed blog about the subjects that most interested their visitors. Furthermore, they added additional content upgrades to their blog posts, such as ebooks. 

Additionally, Hubspot created a separate educational source for content sharing. They call this Inbound. This attracts 321,000 individuals per month! This source promotes Hubspot’s certification and partnership programs. Finally, Hubspot’s content developer improved upon traffic from LinkedIn. They then utilized this traffic to increase their Facebook video views. These four tactics kept engagement at an all-time high. Thanks to their web content team, Hubspot is now a multi-million dollar company.

Rip Curl

Also known as the “ultimate surfing company,” Rip Curl kept audience engagement boosted through their online publication, The Search. This blog contains topics ranging from the best surfing spots to exciting surfing stories. Furthermore, Rip Curl has a Youtube channel. This alone attracts 100,00 subscribers. Rip Curl kept their audience engaged with relevant surfing content. Due to this, the company has over 2 million Facebook followers. 

Rip Curl recognized surfing’s large audience. Then, they promoted strictly towards those potential consumers. Surfers are eager to learn about new sweet spots. They also enjoy reading and sharing personal surf stories. This lead to Rip Curl’s successful YouTube channel. Their channel reaches a vast number of surfers and maintains a large audience. 

Looking For a Web Content Developer? 

These three stories have one thing in common: simplicity. Through blogs, email, and social media, each company reached its audience. Due to this, their followers engaged with their content. These simple tactics were done artfully. Also, they had the help of a web content developer. Thereby, they attracted hundreds of thousands of followers.

Are you running a company that could use more consumer attention? Are you also interested in developing your content in a way that will bring your business more customers? Web Content Development offers a variety of services. From web page design and copywriting, to refining and popularizing your brand, we offer it all. Our services will bring new customers and more attention to your business.  

Case Study: Google’s Content Development Strategy

by

Do a quick Google search for the first thing that pops into your head. You’re likely to find a mass of information right there at your fingertips. That’s because there are millions of articles written on virtually every topic imaginable online. Therefore, in order to compete in this vast sea of information and maintain a successful business, the content you deliver needs to stand out. Google continues to roll out new algorithms rewarding content that results in good user experience. So, it is more important than ever to hone in on a solid content development strategy. If you want to improve your search engine rankings and increase your traffic, your content has to be the best in your niche.

Developing a Successful Content Strategy

Any web content developer worth his salt knows that it isn’t enough to publish content just for the sake of publishing content. The foundation of a successful content development strategy is writing quality content. It must meet the needs of the target audience in question. That means finding out what your audience is looking for and delivering that information in an engaging and useful manner. With a good content development strategy, you can create quality content that your audience is eager to read and share. In turn, this will improve your traffic and grow your business. This process can take a great deal of time, skill and resources. However, the end result will be worth it. 

Putting Content Development into Practice

In the past, keyword research was a great tool for increasing traffic. But, with recent algorithm updates, keyword-stuffed websites that fail to deliver a good user experience are being penalized by Google. The best way to create content that actually converts customers is to shift gears from a keyword-driven content strategy to one centered around the audience’s needs. Keyword research is still a core component of creating SEO content that performs well. However, a well-rounded strategy calls for content that offers more than just a jumble of keywords. It needs to answer your audience’s questions, solve their problems or help them meet their goals.

This type of content allows you to connect with your audience in a way that is relevant to your brand. It is this type of content that is rewarded by search engines. Creating and delivering quality content that meets users’ needs should be at the top of your list of content strategy goals. However, fully understanding how to put that concept into practice is difficult for many businesses. 

Content Development Strategy Tips

Compelling content is a key component of any good content development strategy. Low-quality content is a wasted opportunity for reader engagement and interaction. Also, it undermines your credibility and makes you look unprofessional. Furthermore, this defeats the whole purpose of your content development strategy. In order to make your content work for you, you need to:

  • Find out what it is your audience wants to know
  • Create a comprehensive list of questions your audience is asking
  • Find the answers to these questions and back up the answers with proven facts and sources
  • Compile this information into an engaging, detailed article that your audience will benefit from reading
  • Publish and promote the article to boost traffic to your website

Hire a Professional Content Developer

When it comes to developing a winning content strategy, there is no match for top quality content. Taking the time to publish great content that solves some type of problem for your readers is the best way to ensure success for your business. If you want to grow your business and you are committed to taking your content to the next level, but you don’t have the time or resources to do it on your own, consider hiring a professional content developer to manage your content strategy for you. 

Facebook Content of 2019 – And How to Use It as Web Content

by

There’s no doubt that Facebook is a vast and diverse platform. At 1.59 billion daily active users and counting, there’s bound to be some wild and wonderful interactions going on. Perhaps that’s the reason you want to harness the power of this tool to grow your business and your web content. But how will you know the best content that gets your brand more Facebook engagement?

In this guide, we aim to unlock that answer and then give you some actionable tips on how to infuse that content into your strategy.

What’s the Best Facebook Content of 2019?

There’s no denying that video is the most engaging type of web content in 2019. On average, video posts on Facebook get at least 59 percent more engagement compared to images or text. Whether viewed for a short or long duration of time, it is considered to be meaningful. 

In other words, it means that someone has stopped whatever they were doing to watch that piece of content. What’s even better when utilized, Facebook video content:

  • Comprises of all other mediums (visual and auditory content)
  • Displays nonverbal conversation
  • Engages viewers
  • Prompts shares
  • Is memorable and improves brand recall
  • Provides the best search engine results

Although videos are the best choice if you want the highest Facebook engagement, video content development isn’t 100 percent easy. But when done right, the results can be phenomenal.  

How to Use Video Marketing in Your Strategy

If you have been using Facebook for a while, you already know that most videos play automatically on default settings. However, they don’t have audio unless the viewer clicks on the video. That’s a compelling argument to using great visuals that grab the user’s interest, even without sound. 

An excellent way to do this is to make your video content inspirational, funny, or practical. Any of these will induce a higher amount of comments, reactions, or shares, which in turn, leads to a broader organic reach.

Make it Simple and Clear

Another important thing you need to consider is the length of your video. Although Facebook allows longer videos, they tend to get ignored or left unfinished by viewers. Therefore, you need to keep your videos short and sweet. 

More importantly, make sure they are concise. A 30-second video, for instance, is enough when compared to a 10-minute video; it is more likely to catch the viewer’s attention better and leave them curious and wanting more.

Target a Specific Audience

With video content development, a “one size fits all” approach doesn’t work. That’s why Facebook allows you to build custom audiences. Let’s say you have some products or services that cater to the youth, and you have others that are best suited for the elderly. 

If your content developer creates a general video that addresses both audiences, you’ll end up making little or no impact. For that reason, ensure that your video content addresses the needs of your target audience.

Optimize Video for Conversions

Once you get people to watch your video, it’s time to make the most out of it. All it takes is a clear call to action (CTA). This can be a direct message from the video’s speaker, a link to your landing page at the end of the video, and/or share buttons.

Web Content Development

By harnessing the power of Facebook and video content marketing, your business marketing strategies can go a long way. But you probably don’t need all the work that comes with that. That’s why the team at Web Content Development is committed to helping businesses like yours take the hassle out of digital marketing. Contact us to schedule a call to discuss your business needs.

Apple’s iPhone 11: How Their Content Development Will Dominate

by

Apple plans to release its iPhone 11 in the fall of 2019. The rumor mill is already giving users a glimpse of what the smartphone has in store. Design-wise, it will most likely look much like predecessors iPhone XS and XR. It may also be the first to support the Apple pencil.Although there’s no official confirmation about anything from Apple yet, we’ve already heard and read so much about the product. All Apple product launches are a sheer stroke of genius. Their marketers and PR aficionados know how to build buzz for their new products without giving anything essential away. But how will their content development dominate with the new iPhone 11? Here’s what you need to know.

Drawing Out Suspense for a Longer Period

Although Apple always makes a big deal about announcing new products, their specific gadgets are shrouded in secrecy. In fact, they’ll do just about anything to protect that secret. The case is no different with the iPhone 11. Between 2018 and now, they have released very few potential details about the phone. This mystery is what has been driving their customer base into a frenzy.

Journalists, bloggers, and prospective buyers are all chasing the company in a bid to find out what the iPhone 11 has to offer. This, in turn, has resulted in an influx of speculative blog posts and video reviews about the phone.

Getting Opinion Leaders on Board Early

Apple has a knack for getting YouTubers, bloggers, and other thought leaders on board before their product launches. With iPhone 11, they have already started releasing a couple of solid tidbits for journalists and marketers in telecoms to work with. As a result, we have already seen some subtle, but very deliberate leaks about the phone.

For instance, the phone is rumored to have triple-camera systems. This is after an image leaked on the Internet showing a reflection iPhone 11R in Samsung Galaxy 10+. However, this is based on speculation. The phone is also expected to launch in September. Perhaps this is because Apple almost always launches its iPhones in the same month. However, nothing is confirmed yet. All these rumors have not only made prospective buyers curious but have given iPhone 11 extensive media coverage.

Giveaways and Pre-Orders

There’s no denying that Apple enjoys a rabid fanbase. Coupled with the company’s positive reputation, this plays a large part in the success of their product launches. Apple seems to be well aware of this fact.

They usually offer giveaways and allow pre-ordering of their new products. This tradition has always helped them sell hundreds of thousands of units within the first few days of launch. If this method continues with the iPhone 11, Apple will most likely build a buzz early, as customers compete to show off their new buys on the Internet.

In summation, Apple is deliberate about planning their product launches. They know what information to release, as well as when and who they want to talk about those releases. They also know how to turn the product launch into something worth talking about. That’s exactly what seems to be what will happen with iPhone 11.

Content Development with Web Content Development

Achieving a marketing campaign like Apple is no easy feat. It can be an uphill task, especially if you don’t have the huge fanbase and resources that Apple enjoys. Our team at Web Content Development can help you build buzz for your next product launch. We are a team of web content developers with extensive experience in content marketing. Reach out to us to learn how we can help.