Content syndication on the web is defined as the mass publication of a single article, podcast or video (content assets) across many outlets. In a nutshell: Write once, spread everywhere.

Syndicating your content has obvious benefits—expose more people to your message—but it also plays a vital part in search engine optimization. As the search engines see more of your message online, pointing back to your website, they give more weight to your site. This is one of the most natural and powerful ways to build links to your website. But, the real bonus is that these articles, videos and podcasts are being found in places with far more traffic than your website, such as YouTube, iTunes and Squidoo, and some of those people are clicking through to your site.

Content syndication is a key element to traffic building, and it helps with both article marketing and search engine optimization. I’m always a fan of leveraging a little bit of work into a whole lot of results, and that’s what good content asset and some content syndication can do for you!

Icons used in the info graphic courtesy of Icon Drawer.

What is this systemic and pervasive problem? No clear call to action.

Let me elaborate. You do so much work to get the attention of your visitors and bring them to your site. Once there, you plead your case with compelling, benefit-focused content. But then you let them flounder.

Are you hoping they’re so compelled by your message that they track you down and beg to do business with you?!

Take advantage of your efforts and close the deal! Strongly nudge them to the next step. That might be a sale, a phone call, free demo—anything that you believe advances the buying and/or qualifying process.

Photo Credit: Charles Haynes, via Flickr

Your conversion pages, all of them, should perform like a funnel, driving your prospects to your desired goal. Don’t confuse this with being deceptive or pushy. A good call to action seems obvious to the visitor. They’ve just read an interesting article, case study, product description or watched a video, and now they are sincerely interested. While they’re engaged, they’re looking to do something, maybe even make some kind of commitment. It’s your job to funnel them to the next step before their attention fades.

To make our point crystal clear, every page of your website should be examined to determine what the next logical step should be. If this is a landing page (first page they see), you might only want to prod the user to view a demo of your product. But, once that demo is complete,  you might want to offer them a free custom quote. And, if this is a simple product page, the call to action will just be a resounding “buy now.”

It took us a long time to actually realize this warranted a blog post, because it seems obvious. But, if you understand many marketing department’s resistance to appearing sales-y or cheap, it is understandable why this fundamental mindset of internet marketing is often overlooked.

Identify the mindset of your audience by page, and advance the relationship with a clear and compelling call to action. Resist trying to eat the whole elephant with in one bite, but instead know which bite to take next.