Van Iderstyne: How to Talk Stubborn Clients into Much-Needed Fresh Content

“Selling Clients on Content” may seem like an easy thing to do. But Jennifer van Iderstyne at SearchEngineWatch.com says that many clients simply don’t see the point. “Sometimes part of a link builder’s job is explaining to a client why it isn’t feasible to ‘just get links to the home page,’ or why their shipping guarantee doesn’t count as content.

To handle the hard-to-persuade customers, Van Iderstyne suggests hitting them where in hurts – in the ROI. Tell the customers that in order for them to increase their rankings, they’re going to have to get some one-way links feeding to their site. The only way to do this is for the site to offer more than what people expect to see when they get there. For example, if you sell electronics, merchandise doesn’t count as content, because merchandise is always there. You need to be adding blog content or commentary elsewhere on the site on a regular basis. More content usually leads to higher ranking in the SERPS. The higher you rank, of course, the more people will see you and click on your site. Van Iderstyne says that keeping those new visitors interested is vital in order to “pull” them deeper into the site. This is done by providing links to more information and articles about your company.