Why You Should Put Educational Material on Your Website

It was once the case that websites existed to provide basic information relevant to the company mission, information about products or services offered, and possibly even biographies about company leaders. In the far more cutthroat competition of the modern era, that’s no longer good enough. If you want to stand out from the crowd, make your website the “go to” place for educational information relevant to your niche.

Think of Your Website as a Library, Not a Brochure

When companies first realized that the Internet was an outstanding mechanism for building brand awareness, they started with the basics. They offered a splash page with the company logo, a catchy slogan, and a well-designed image characteristic of the corporate mission. They also featured the mandatory “About” link that visitors could click to learn more about the company, including contact information.

Of course, first wave websites also offered information about various products or services being offered. They acted as digital brochures, used for marketing purposes.

Along came content marketing and leaders in business realized that they needed more than just an online presence that acted as a digital sales rep. They needed to provide useful information to people so they could lasso in potential customers who were searching the web for specific information.

Today, the game has changed yet again. While the tried-and-true methods of inbound marketing from the past are certainly welcome and necessary, it’s also good to take that concept a step further by creating a resource section on your website. This is where you define key words and phrases, cite statistics, and even provide case studies that people in your market will find useful. Effectively you segment out a portion of your website so that it’s a veritable Alexandrian Library of information about anything even remotely related to your niche.

Benefits of Providing a Good Education

By providing an information repository on your website, you’re not only helping your visitors, you’re also promoting your brand. Here are several key benefits that you’ll notice:

• People will stay on your pages longer – Because you’re providing information that’s generally used for reference purposes, you can expect visitors to stay on your site longer as they’re “digesting” what you’re presenting.
• Share-worthy content – When you provide in-depth information about a particular subject, you can expect that it will be cited as a reference. Who knows? You might even end up with a link from Wikipedia. That would provide an outstanding boost to your search ranking.
• Improved connection with customers – The more that people in your market use your site, the more they’ll feel connected to your brand.
• A reason to come back – If people know that your site is the “go to” place for reference information, you can expect that they’ll be back when they need to perform similar research in the future.

An Example

Apfelbaum Inc. is the world leader when it comes to stamp collecting and sales. In an effort to further promote its brand, the company created an online philatelic library that serves as a resource for people interested in stamp collecting and/or postal history. The library offers numerous links that cover everything from the basics of stamp collecting to information about postage dating back to 250 B.C.

Source | http://www.chicagonow.com/