A well-curated website that is updated frequently brings visitors back and attracts new traffic. With trade publication websites, you actually have a head start in finding content that your target audience wants. However, you need to know a bit about what goes on inside your typical site visitor’s mind to really draw them in.
To connect with visitors, you need to think about your ideal visitor. What does he or she do all day? What kind of lifestyle do professionals in your niche have? What problems does a professional in your trade face frequently? When you determine these things, you can create high quality, targeted content. Here are five types of content you can tailor to your trade that will reel in visitors again and again.
1. How to Do… Whatever
How-to content should address one particular challenge your target reader faces. Suppose your website is for professional bakers and confectioners. There are numerous how-tos that can help this audience improve productivity and enjoy their work more. For example, you could write a blog post on “How to Gear Up for Wedding Season” or “How to Find Suppliers that Won’t Let You Down.” Providing useful strategies and solutions to one common challenge can be very appealing to your target audience.
2. Product, Service, or App Reviews
Is there a product people in your trade regularly use? You could do a review of that product or a head-to-head comparison of several examples in that product category. Are there services that people in your trade use regularly? You could lay out their options for providers and compare them. Apps are another hot topic today because apps exist for just about everything and people love apps that help their day go better. Review a popular app that professionals in your trade are interested in with pros, cons, and testimonials.
3. Write About Productivity Boosters Specific to Your Trade
This type of blog post can address your particular trade and its common peculiarities. Numbered lists work great for this type of content. For example, “5 Ways First Year Legal Professionals Can Manage Time Better” will draw in more readers than “5 Productivity Boosters.” Everyone wants to be able to work more efficiently and targeted numbered lists themselves are efficient, making your reader feel more productive as soon as she reads the title.
4. Ask Readers What They Want
There’s nothing wrong with simply asking your target audience what content appeals to them. You can ask readers what they want in several ways: You could hand out brief paper polls at a trade convention and once they’re collected, draw a name for a door prize. You could put a poll up on your website or blog, or you could ask them through social media channels. If a particular topic or theme consistently shows up in their answers, it’s a topic worth writing about.
5. Analyze Social Media for Trends
Which of your Tweets has been re-Tweeted most? Has a topic on your Facebook page inspired a long list of comments? Social media analytic tools can help you learn what people in your trade are talking about on social media. Four resources that can help you get a handle on what’s getting buzz in the social media world are Google Hot Trends, TweetMeme, HootSuite and Alexa Hot Topics.
How You Showcase Your Content Counts, Too
Having well-written, fresh content is critical to your site’s success, but how you present it is important too. Trade publishers in particular can increase visitor engagement by adding a job board to their site. Visitors may return to see if new jobs have been added, then stick around to read blog content, or vice versa. When you create a job board or other recruitment advertising solutions, you not only bring in those who are looking for a job, but also employers who need workers. Job board software is the perfect backstop for the engaging website, giving visitors yet another reason to return frequently.
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