How are people finding out about your marketplace? While word-of-mouth still has the greatest affect on people, the internet comes next. Consumers conduct vast amounts of research before making a purchase decision. So how can I benefit from this?

The answer is content marketing. This thought leadership and educational approach can help increase your chances for generating new leads. It’s tough to come up with new topics and produce fresh content on a daily basis. So how can I do it? Jonathan Long shares 6 ways you can help increase your content for your marketplace.

1. Outsource content

One of the hardest things for a new marketplace to do is create fresh new content. With small budget and minimal staffing, writing new blogs everyday can be very time consuming. In reality, some of us simply don’t have the experience or expertise to create high-quality content. Not everyone is cut out for writing, so what are my options? Well you can hire a designated content writer(s) but be prepared to take on those costs. Or another option is to simply outsource your content to freelancers who can handle the whole process for you.

A great place to find freelancers is Writer Access. We often look to them to fill the holes in our content needs. Simply identify your topic, a few reference articles, set your word count, star rating, and budget then all set to post! A writer who matches your criteria will take on the job and the turnaround time is typically 2-3 days which is great. Spend an hour a week to post 5 different jobs, then before you know it you are able to cover the typical workweek of Monday- Friday with fresh new content. This will all come for a fraction of the cost of hiring writers.

2. Bring on guest posts

While you may not necessarily agree with spending all that money for new content on a daily basis, allowing guest posts is a great way to cut some costs. While many people will simply try to feed off your SEO but getting a spot on your blog, choose wisely. If you are publishing articles about entrepreneurship, then don’t allow an article on the NBA playoffs. Don’t be afraid to turn people down as it may not meet your criteria needs. Keep in mind, whatever is published on your blog it is a direct reflection of your company and views.

If you don’t have the time to manage these guest posts, hire a freelancer to manage these for you. You can pay them on a per job basis to help keep the costs down.

3. Conduct interviews

Finding influencers who are relevant to your industry can be a big boost. Whether it’s a blog post or podcast, these are great ways to achieve cross-promotion. Tapping into your network but also theirs, will increase your marketplace visibility. A great tool to sign up for is HARO, as you can find quality content on your niche topics and find subject matter experts. Instead of looking through social media and spending countless hours, simply submit a topic and sort through your replies. Easy as that!

4. Use your team

If you already have a team, use them for your content. Put them to work! Having an in-house team has its pros as you can become much more focused and targeted for your niche. Especially if you are covering topics that are more location based, having a freelancer who lives across the world may not get the full understanding. Be open and invite anyone on your team to become a writer. Have a submission deadline to get drafts over for review, you never someone may impress you.

Have an internal contest to see who can create the most engagement on your team. Reward those who publish articles and review the analytics. Check out who has the most views or shares by the end of the month. Even if it’s a gift card or a free lunch, you’ll be surprised how many of your employees will participate.    

5. Get on forums

Have you signed up for Quora or Medium? These are great resources to find questions and answers to your issues. While medium is more of a blog source, it can be very helpful for the brainstorming phase. If your marketplace, has the option open up a discussion section. Build a community within your website to keep them coming back. As you build your audience, keep the topics relevant around your niche. This will also help increase your organic traffic.    

6. Rewrite previous content

How long has your marketplace been blogging? Often times we write and publish content but what happens after that? Maybe they are posted on social media a few more times but then they are lost. We forget what we wrote about and may not even be implementing what we told others to.

Content standards have changed over the years and google algorithms have become smarter as well. What keyword stuffing strategy you may have had before no longer is relevant if it lacks quality. Focus on rewriting your old content and bring them up to today’s standards to ensure they are SEO optimized. Having a base blog to work off can help cut your typical writing time in half and help produce more content.

Do you want to contribute to our blog here at Near Me? Comment below or send us a tweet @NearMeCo with your ideas!

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