Your main goal when creating content for top-of-funnel should be to attract people to your website. It may be to solve a problem, fill a need or just entertain.
This content should not be salesy. You can include links to other pages that provide more information about your company or products. But the main purpose of top-of-funnel content should be to build brand awareness and positive associations with your company. What kind of content achieves these goals?
Blog posts
It’s time for you to start a blog. Blog posts not only keep you relevant and generate conversation but also attract site visitors. Marketers who blog are 13x as likely to drive positive ROI.
It can seem like a lot of work, even though maintaining a blog is easy. Even if you only post a few times a week, it can show potential clients that you are up-to-date with the latest issues and trends in your industry. If you write about topics that are popularly searched by your target audience, they can make great top-of-funnel material.
The best part about blogging is that there are no restrictions. Your company blog is yours to publish, unlike traditional methods that have strict guidelines and restrictions. You can publish anything you like, provided it fits in with your brand’s image.
Articles
Articles are pages on your website that offer useful information to customers. They are composed of text and images. However, unlike blog posts, they shouldn’t be time-sensitive.
Your goal should be to make articles “evergreen,” which means they will be relevant for several months or years. You may have visited other companies’ articles pages, even though you might not be aware. Consider the last time you used a search engine for the answer to a problem or question. What did you find?
If you don’t know what I mean, I will use my most recent search as an example. Yesterday night I noticed my shower was draining slowly so I Googled “how to unclog shower drains”. I found articles from Home Depot, a local plumbing company, and a DIY magazine – all of who could benefit from site visitors having clogged shower drains.
Tutorials and guides are available for free
A free guide can be a great way of attracting qualified traffic from the beginning. Let’s take this example as an example.
Why did you decide to learn more about content marketing? How did this guide come about? Let’s assume you are a marketer/business owner who is interested in content marketing to generate revenue. You might be a customer if that is the case.
Why do we give this information away for free? And why should you? It attracts customers. Although you may be reluctant to share your knowledge, consider this: If someone is looking for information online, it’s likely that there’s already a lot of it. You can create a more valuable and better resource.
It’s not about giving away all the company secrets – it’s about helping your potential customers. You never know, maybe they will decide after reading through a few chapters that they don’t want to do this on their own and give your company a call.
Infographics
Infographics are the last type of content that we will discuss. They are very top of the funnel and can sometimes only generate site traffic but they can be extremely effective.
Infographics such as The psychology of color or The Internet in real-time are some of our most popular pages. If you have seen these pages before (or are looking at them now), you will notice that they are hosted on our website and include our company name.
Even if your business is mentioned once, such as in a logo, there’s a greater chance people will remember it than if it was written in an article. Even if you don’t talk about specific services, brand awareness can be a key step in moving potential customers through your funnel.
Our services are not mentioned in any infographic. If you have the resources and knowledge to create an infographic on a topic related to your industry, it is worth a try.
