This marks the 2nd of my posts on how to set up an Inbound Marketing strategy.  We’re now exploring the creation of remarkable content which is the lynch pin for getting found on the Internet.  I want to remind you again, the point here is to offer your clients and prospects good, solid information, free of charge.  It is this content you will then market toward building relationships.

Getting your head around this will be the first obstacle since most of us are not in the habit of writing, creating video and audio posts etc. that will be publicly viewed.  We’re also not in the habit of making lots of things to just give away free of charge on a regular basis.

The most obvious and fairly easy place to have content on the Internet is on a blog or website.  Websites are much more static than blogs and for that reason are not as easy to manage when it comes to creating content.  If you are a one-person operation you will want to start with a blog.  If you already have a website, you still want to start a blog for ease of use and because Google is a little more friendly to them these days in terms of exposure.

If you’re relatively new to the world of Internet marketing you may not know the difference between a website and a blog.  The short version is a website is much like an online billboard, a place to post information that will stay put for extended periods and a blog is more dynamic, functioning like a running commentary from you to your clients and prospects.  Most companies that have been around for awhile have a website, not so many have a blog.  If you are  more established in business and have the resources you can easily outsource the setup of these tools which brings me to another point.

Marketing on the Internet is about more than merely having a website or even a blog and then doing a little advertising for it by purchasing banner ads or pay-per-click advertising.  It needs to be thought of more as an overall strategy, inbound marketing, and the elements you put in place are all tools that plug into that strategy.  Each recipe can and will vary somewhat as the businesses that use them differ on a wide scale.  What I’m talking about here is an overall framework to follow and then customize according to your needs and ability.

Setting up a blog is not a complex project.  I use and recommend WordPress.  There is the WordPress hosted version, completely 100% free and there is WordPress.org where you can download the software (still free) and install or have it installed on your own domain (some very small expense here) – this is the preferred route since it gives more credibility and you will have much greater control.  There are a host of books, websites and consultants that can foster you along on setting up and customizing a blog and it is a topic I’ll explore in greater depth later on but for now we’ll stick to the basic action of getting a blog.  It is very important to begin this project with the end in mind.  Many install their blog on a free site with the intent of moving it to a self-hosted site (on their own domain) later on and I want to caution against that.  Here’s why.  A big part of getting found online is controlled by Google and the age of your site along with volume of content is a factor.  We’ll talk about in a later post.  Self-hosting on your own domain is not outside your capability even if you are a beginner and you will already be building toward your future if you start out this way.  Again, I’ll cover this topic in greater depth at a later time.

Once you have a blog, getting content out there for the world is not all that difficult from a technical perspective.  Getting disciplined in consistently creating content and sharing it will be the hurdle.  My advice is to start small and build the habits first.  Make it a habit to get on your blog once or twice a week and write a little blog post.  What do you write about?  If you get started with the end in mind the ideal way is to select keywords that will be the core element of everything you will do online.

When you’re already in business, finding keywords isn’t quite as difficult because you’re limited to the scope of your existing operation for the most part.  If you’re just thinking about going in business or have some flexibility in just what goods and services you will offer, spending a considerable amount of time researching the value of the keywords you might use can carry you a long way.  Again, this is another complicated topic I’ll revisit and if you can’t come up with the perfect set of keywords at least be thinking in general terms what someone might type into Google to find your site and try to include these in your topics and conversation with your blog posts.  The point for now is building the habits of creating content.  Quality can be refined over time. Simply think of a common question your customers ask, answer it online in the form of a blog post.  Also, visit around to other blogs for ideas.

Ultimately, your blog (and website if you have one) will be your content factory.  This is where you will “manufacture” your new product – the content that will be shared freely with your intended community.  Next, we’ll continue with this discussion as I dig deeper into how to get found using a blog.

I invite you to subscribe to my monthly email updates in the right margin so you don’t miss any posts.  I encourage you to share this post with others, there is a link above to “tweet” it to your followers.  There is also a “Share” button at the bottom of this post.

This is an excellent opportunity for you to learn, a bit of homework.  Click the share button below.  A whole new world will open up to you.  If you think Social Media is limited primarily to Facebook, Twitter and maybe LinkedIn this will be an incredible eye-opener.  You will want to know about social bookmarking services since this will become a big part of your world as you gain experience with your blog and the whole concept of getting found online.  So try it out, (hint, the site you will visit has tutorial videos for you) just press buttons and explore until you figure it out, nothing will break, I promise and I’ll be talking about this tool and others like it later on in great detail