One last option to consider is optimizing for some of your competitions keywords. Bear in mind SEO for your competition is not without consequences and not for the faint of heart, so think about it before you decide to start down that path.
Enough with the theory lets look at some real world examples of this in place. I’m a huge fan of the Sonos in home music system (full disclosure I was sent a review unit in the past see my Sonos Review post for more details). However to be honest I really really love it, in fact I’m a huge brand advocate of the product. Spend 5 minutes talking to me about it at a conference or on twitter and you’ll see me affection for the product is genuine. Sonos regularly blogs about how to use their system and how to get the most out of it with posts like Using line in on Sonos products or how to use AirPlay on Sonos Music systems. In fact they have a whole tips & tricks section.
Another example is the Whole Foods blog. In addition to recipes they have posts about how to cook with styles customers may not be familiar with like learn how to cook broiled fish or how to use new food types like Quiona (it’s a small grain like cous-cous).
The key lesson from these examples is don’t blog just to get new customers, blog to reach and help your existing customers, if you do it correctly they will stay repeat customers and pass along their experiences with their family and friends, and share them on Facebook, twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.
So what are the takeaways from this post:
- Look at your popular customer service questions and inquiries and look for ways to create optimized posts around those topics
- Use natural language and phrases your customers use, avoid internal terminology and marketing language
- Look for opportunities to show advanced or little known features
- Make your customers smarter this turns them into brand advocates
- While there is some danger optimizing for your competitions keywords can sometimes work to your advantage
photo credit: Shutterstock/darren Baker
