But, I don’t want to give it all away…

Common business logic says that giving away your hard work, without payment, isn’t a good decision and a majority of businesses continue to live by this rule today, even in today’s changing environment. Take just a moment and ponder providing crucial insight to someone that’s not your client. Did you flinch? Then it’s time to rethink your long-term marketing plan.

Go From Ordinary To Expert

Scenario One:
You’re selling your widgets, installation services, and maintenance services on your web site. Feeling pretty cool, you’ve had your marketing troops ensure that you’ve got the coolest electronic sales site ever produced on the Internet. Your designer won awards for the great look and feel to the site, and you have his award ceremony picture proudly hung on the wall.

What could possibly be wrong with the site? You’ve worked endless hours targeting the words at your potential clients, you’ve got live inventory, immediate shipping, and the site is a homage to your products, services, and company as a whole. Why would a potential client even think twice about buying from you?

Scenario Two:
Same company, same services, new site. Now we’ll create a site that will act as a widget resource and instead of you saying how wonderful your widgets are… we’ll let the depth of resources tell a story to your potential clients.

Now you’re providing detailed installation instructions, maintenance tips, and have developed a section for clients to interact when having issues with their widgets. The site now includes articles and news about the widget industry, providing an area for potential clients to size up you and the competition. And you’re starting to write real articles for the site, providing information about your widget version 2.3.1, how the company has overcome a recent installation issue, and how the company is invested in a local school program. On top of this, you’ve partnered your widget company with those widget accessory shops around the world that are creating new uses for your widget every day, embracing and educating about the uses of your product that you never foresaw.

On top of new functionality, you’ve eliminated the polished marketing brochure environment, and now you’re providing a depth of content and resources that your visitors desire. The results are a site that not only looks great, but acts like a trusted expert in the industry and by providing the right resources, you will silently prove to potential clients (and existing clients too!) that you’re the right choice.

End Result: Providing depth of relevant and useful information on your web site will bring your search engine rankings from Page 3 to Page 1.