5 sources of content you didn't know you had

Ian Lurie

Content. I’m always harassing my clients to produce more content. It’s essential to good SEO and delivers value for visitors. It’s a pain in the neck to create new content. But chances are, you’ve got lots of great stuff already.

1. Your local stores

If you have local stores or independent retailers who sell your product, create a directory that lists them all. A ‘directory’ means someone can find every single retailer in the directory by clicking.
For example, on momAgenda, clicking on a state takes you to a list of retailers. If you can click to it, so can search engines:
momagenda-directory-search.jpg

2. Transcripts

If you have any video or audio, even if it’s not currently on your site, get it transcribed. There are a lot of services that’ll do this at a low price.
Then post the video or audio, and link to the transcript. Voila. Lotsa content. Here’s an example with the transcript on the same page:
video-transcript.jpg

Oh, and for all you poor little kids who’s schools didn’t let you watch Obama’s speech, you can watch it here.

3. Manuals

Product manuals, company training materials and specifications can all make useful additions to your site. Your customers will appreciate the online manuals. Training manuals will attract links (make sure it’s OK to publish them, of course). And any data sheets about your product help establish trust.
Kodak does it well:
manuals-kodak.gif

4. Glossaries

Ever write down the terms your sales team needed to know? Use that to create a glossary on your site. Trust me: Every industry, every organization, uses lots of terms that don’t make sense to their customers and fans. A glossary is great additional content.
Go Fisher!
fisher-glossary.jpg

5. Reviews

Did a client tell you you’re the best business decision they’ve made all year? Ask them if you can write it down. Then put it on your site. If you have a rolodex, go through it. Remember who praised, and drop ’em a quick line. I used to hate doing that. I still do – it’s hard to ask for praise. But most clients want to help you succeed.
testimonials.jpg

Content’s where you don’t expect it

Before you say “I don’t have any content”, think carefully. You’ll find content all over your office. It’s like a virus – the stuff just multiplies…

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Comments

  1. Excellent ideas!
    Reminds me of a friend of mine, who has created an entire website using old medical text books he says will never be found online (so in a sense, he’s doing us all a favor by adding this to the internet).

  2. Nice post! I’ve just begun reading, but I enjoy the things I read here even more as the days goes by. Alot of good information. Keep up the good work!

  3. Thanks Ian,
    As always, you have provided some excellent advice and it is easy to implement. We are in the process of building our online retail store and not only do the customers appreciate the content you suggested above, but hopefully it will also help me out with SEO.
    My wheels are spinning now…
    Thanks again,
    Travis

  4. Thank you for all these sources of content. Now I will never run out of things to write about as those five sources you mentioned will help a lot not only me for writing but also the readers who may be searching for information. I thought reviews were only for reviewing products but now you’ve given me another perspective.
    Evelyn Guzman
    http://www.homebusinesssteps.com (If you want to visit, just click but if it doesn’t work, copy and paste it onto your browser.)

  5. Just a note on the Manuals. You’d better make sure they get updated constantly, or you’re in danger or publishing out-of-date material that could come back to haunt you. Also, on the reviews (testimonials), better make sure you get specific permission to publish each one online – and don’t paraphrase what they say, quote them exactly.

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