How to Build Reputation & Branding with Articles

Two fundamentals of building authority in search engine optimization are adding content and earning links. A terrific way to do both is to add link-worthy and vote-worthy articles. Votes come from social media web sites like StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, Reddit and Digg. The more votes an article receives the more prominently it gets displayed on those sites. Prominence drives visitors and links.

As a business, you probably want to appeal to your core audience or prospects. After all, that's where the revenue comes from. Unfortunately it is likely that most of your prospects will never publish content about your company or link to your web site. This is why you must strike a balance. Create content for both your core community and for web-writers in and around your industry who publish and link out.

Here is a popular formula often used for link-worthy and vote-worthy content in a top ten format.

1. Article title
2.  Brief introductory paragraph to the article
3.  For each of the ten
   1.  Sub-headline
   2.  What it is, a very brief description
   3. A clever thumbnail or graphic that represents the discussion point
   4.  Why this is important, a more detailed explination

It's useful to remember that you are not writing a white paper. Your article should be both informative and entertaining, targeted toward a more casual business audience. If you can strike a balance, people will want to read more of your articles.

It can be a good idea to expand beyond your company’s core product or mission when writing articles for links and social media. If you create telemarketing software, for example, you can write about:

• Selecting telemarketing software (core)
• Managing a phone room (broad)
• Training callers (broad)
• Writing telemarketing scripts (broad)
• Compensation strategies (broad)
• What to look for when hiring a telemarketing manager or supervisor (broad)
• Designing a new phone room (broad)
• Rules and regulations telemarketers must follow (broad)

Obviously there is a lot more to telemarketing than the software. Is the same true for your industry or your customers?

If you commit to this type of strategy you business will grow from a one-shot company and transform into an industry resource. It will take time and persistence, then, when this happens your brand and reputation will grow too. Later, when businesses need your product or service, chances will be much higher that your company will find itself on the short-list.