Here’s how to use rich quotes, videos, infographics, podcasts and other rich, viral content to generate quality inbound links and targeted traffic to your site.
Blogs that rank well in search bolster the entire domain to rank well in search. Making sure your site ranks for your chosen keywords is as simple as building an inbound marketing strategy and executing. For our clients, while regular, value-filled blog posts are the meat of the inbound strategy, on a regular basis we throw viral content like quotes, videos, podcasts or infographics into the mix. We know that these rich media sources of content will travel further and generate more inbound links than a typical blog post.
Infographics
Building a good infographic is a great way to get a large number of links back into your site. Infographics should be as large as they need to be, but be sure to size it down when you post it to your blog so that nothing gets cut off. Link to the larger version so people can zoom in, but preview the smaller version on the blog.
Use no more than 3 fonts, choose a complimentary color scheme and cite your sources. Don’t forget to brand your infographic and include your social media urls and your web address. If you aren’t handy with Photoshop or Illustrator, try the template infographic builders like Piktochart or Visua.ly.
EXAMPLE: I built this Infographic about Edgerank, Facebook’s newsfeed ranking algorithm in 2 hours with Piktochart.
Podcasts
It’s super-simple to put out quality podcasts. While we certainly use sophisticated software and high-tech hardware here at Mariposa, most people just don’t need that level of sophistication. Many small businesses can create a podcast that really only costs them time.
To create a podcast, you’ll need something to record with, and for most, if you are in a quiet place when you record, your onboard mic is sufficient. Choose a simple audio editing software, like Audacity (free), to remove any dead space and ohs and ums. Either hire someone to create an intro and outro, or monkey around with royalty-free music and Audacity to create something on your own.
When you are done mixing your intros, outros and the content of your recording into one mp3, upload it to a podcast host like Libsyn. Next, you can either use the RSS feed offered from your podcast host or take that feed and send it through Feedburner. Finally, take the RSS feed and submit it to iTunes.
Podcasts are not a one-time thing, so if you call it a podcast, you have to be willing to keep to a regular schedule. Of course, if you just want to add audio to your blog, you can do that, just don’t call it a podcast and don’t add it to iTunes.
EXAMPLE: An excellent example of a value-filled podcast that likely generates great traffic and leads is the Convince and Convert podcast.
Video
Again, for a casual video, the barrier to entry for this rich media type is low. Anyone can find a well-lit room, turn on their onboard camera and record a video with free software like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. In fact, I suggest that all newcomers to video start with these free tools and many of them will find they don’t need anything more complex.
The most important thing for video, other than stellar, value-filled content of course, is lightling. A dark video will look terrible. Back lighting will also look terrible. Find a place with overhead or side-lighting that also has secondary lighting to light both the foreground and background. In most offices, an overhead light and a lamp is sufficient.
Once you have the video done, upload it to a video host like YouTube or Vimeo. Grab the embed code and insert it into your blog.
EXAMPLE: Udemy is using this video showing a lengthy case stude on social media success for a startup to push viewers to its bigger course on Social Media Marketing.
Visual Quotes
You can also mix things up with quotes, like the one at the top of this post, from Hubspot. Choose a quote from an industry leader and jazz it up with a nice photo. Don’t forget to make sharing easy by including a Pin This button along with any visual content like Infographics and Visual Quotes.
EXAMPLE: Hubspot has a great example of marketing quotes on their blog right now.
Slide Decks
Blog posts are long and regardless of your effort, they often just get skimmed. Take the content that you used for a blog post and turn it into a snazzy slide deck.
Create the slide deck in Keynote or Powerpoint. Be sure to brand it with your company’s information, including URL and social accounts. Remember that this deck will be read, not accompanied with sound, so make sure each slide can stand on it’s own. Upload the deck to Slideshare and grab the embed code. Add it to your blog along with a few paragraphs about why the slides would be useful to your audience.
EXAMPLE: Here’s a great slide deck from Paypal’s developer relations team explaining UX Anti-Patterns (negative patterns in user experience). Note the laser focus of the topic, the great images to text display, and how spot-on this deck is for building to their audience of developers.
Each of these rich media options are relatively easy to create and share, and if executed as a part of your integrated marketing program, they’ll increase your social shares, inbound links and generate targeted traffic to your site.
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