Content baby, that’s what I’m talking about.

AV Artisan Productions Web Site

A friend of mine told me recently that he has never had anyone contact him from his website. I was surprised. With no marketing budget and a business he was funding himself with a part time job; he had built his website himself.

He recently revised his website with a new logo and a new layout. My friend is a videographer - with lots of talent. He has put great examples of his work on his website, and some great testimonials. His site is http://hdvap.com/. Check it out and tell me why he isn’t getting any traffic from search engines. You can check it out now if you like and when you come back I’ll tell you if your guess is right. I’ll wait.

Back now? Did you check out his videos - my favourite one is the Toastmasters one - where Mark Brown says Ya Man. What is missing (at least until I show him this post)? You got it - Content baby Content.

As my friend and professional copywriter Kristina of DigitalWord puts it:

Unlike a brochure, web content serves two distinct purposes:

1. To communicate with your target audience
2. As a content relevance guide for search engines to deliver search results (rankings) to said target audience

Let’s take her first point - His home page makes a great fact page but it doesn’t speak to you. - the cost is there but focus should be on how video can help a business - and specifically how he can make that happen.

Her second point directly affects search engine traffic - you’ve got to use words in your content that match what your potential clients are typing into the search engines. For example if lots of potential customers are typing in “video production ottawa” they will never find his business. If he wants those potential customers to find him then my videographer friend should be working that phrase in his content.

But my friend’s lack of visibility in search engines - is it his fault? Well no. He has a choice - spending his time on his business, developing his talents or spend the time on learning about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how that relates to content. What he needs is the services of someone with copywriting/marketing skills - or to at least read this post.

Moral of the story - a fresh redesign is not going to bring in more search engine traffic if your content doesn’t match the exact words that people are using to try to find you. A web designer can help you improve this - or at least refer you to someone who excels at this.

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