Are You a Knowledge Based Supplier?

We’re hearing a lot about e-Commerce and data. Technically, it’s content, but it doesn’t position you as a Subject Matter Expert. As everyone continues to improve their product data, won’t look much different than your competitors. You may have gotten behind in e-Commerce because you didn’t start earlier. Now’s the time to be creating “Substantive” content: Educational, Engaging, Entertaining. Your customers want it and Google favors it.

Someone told me this week that they’re way behind competitors (Web Competitive Intelligence) in search rankings and now are on page 6 of Google for their top products! “My products just seem to have disappeared. What can I do?”

First off, his product descriptions and attributes were, well, horrible. I explained what he can do about that. His next challenge is, everyone’s working on getting better data now, and many of them are working off the same basic data: 

Model Number, Short Description, Long Description, and a few sentences basically restating the this information in a conversational way. Data is a commodity, what’s going to differentiate you?

START CREATING CONTENT.to win on search engines.  See Content Library.The real magic begins after the content is created and transmitted.

Crack the Content ‘Code’… Content Marketing

I hesitated to break the news to him. He needs to “Crack the Content Code”, says Mark Schaefer, author of “The Content Code” Good data is only going to earn you a spot at the table. Now is the time to leapfrog the competition. Whose your audience? What do they spend their day doing, what are the problems they need solved (what are their pain points?) How does your offering solve them better than anyone else?

Write down these questions and take time to answer them. This gives you the sub-headlines and topic to be discussed under each sub-head in 5-7 sentences. State the five problems and follow-up with a solution which you can probably explain if someone just walked up and asked you. 

Someone should be charged with articulating the problems your products solve, and explaining your benefits.

Beat the Competition. Create Content

Your competitors who’ve been the most visible on the web have earned it during the “data era” which has been here for years, and many companies are just arriving. They have a new challenge that can’t be ignored. That visible competitor will sustain a strong search presence for a while because they’ve gained Site Authority. 

The good news is that search engines are changing their algorithms to reward valuable information which you can create, and over time, will nudge you toward the top of the rankings. Create and don’t stop.

The magic is not just in creating content. The magic begins when it is transmitted, or put another way, shared. Creating entertaining, educational or problem-solving content gets shared and sends strong signals to Google and other search engines that say you’re doing something better than that guy who is publishing data and pictures and stopping there.

Keep evolving with words to back up your product knowledge. Don’t be a dinosaur. It’s a new era.

(Visit Content Library)