Startup Content Marketing - Distilled Meetup

JOHN DOHERTY DISTILLED NYC

Startup Content How to Do It Right

@dohertyjf

Today we are talking about startups and

marketing, but to win long term in

marketing it helps to have content.

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A lot of startups, though, think of

marketing after the fact, and then it’s

“marketing content”, not useful content.

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Most of you are SEOs. This is the startup

version of “SEO content”.

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#facepalm

Why Create Great Content

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Search Volume

“Dollar Shave Club” far outstrips “men’s razors” in search volume.

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Increased Coverage

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Links (aka Traffic)

Image via MajesticSEO

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Traffic = money/users

4,072

5,087

6,012

11,206

12,129

13,967

0

3,500

7,000

10,500

14,000

Dec-11 Jan-12 Feb-12 Mar-12 Apr-12 May-12

Organic visitors

243% Organic Improvement

0

3,500

7,000

10,500

14,000

Dec-11 Jan-12 Feb-12 Mar-12 Apr-12 May-12

Users go the same way

Startups Who Fail at Content

Marketing

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Instagram ($1bn of nothing)

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Instagram’s Site

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Their Web Interface Sucks

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They should have done Pinstagram

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Mint.com

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Mint.com’s Blog is Meh

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But their product is sexy

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They should have done what WePay did

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HouseBites.com

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HouseBites.com is boring

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So is their blog

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Their Flickr is AMAZING

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They should be all over Pinterest. But they only have 14 images there. Missed

opportunity.

Startups Who Do It Right

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Oyster.com – Doing It Right(ish)

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Oyster’s Photo Fakeouts (293 Linking Root Domains)

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WePay.com

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WePay Does It Right

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WePay’s Publicity Stunt

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Don’t just think about content on your

own site either. Here are two examples of

startups whose founders have big

followings.

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Hubspot

http://onstartups.com/

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BufferApp

http://leostartsup.com/

“But I’m Not Creative”

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Folks who never do any more than they get paid for, never

get paid for any more than they do.

- Elbert Hubbard

Industry-Shaking Content is Difficult

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Difficult, Focused Work Pays Off

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Step 1: Don’t Talk About Yourself

http://www.johnfdoherty.com/

brand-voice-marketing/

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Step 2: Audience

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/keyword-level-demographics

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Step 3: Competitor Research

[keyword phrase] + guide

How to [keyword phrase]

https://seogadget.co.uk/content-

strategy-generator-tool-v2-update/

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Step 4: Prioritize, Resourcize,

Calendarize

Start small. Get a dedicated resource (pro tip next slide) to produce one piece of

difficult-to-replicate content.

Create a calendar of consistent material. Your first won’t get many links. Your

second will get more. Your third will do better.

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Step 4: Prioritize and Resourcize

Ahem: https://www.google.com/search?q=find+an+intern&pws=0

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Our Intern Did This

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Our Intern Did This

It’s our 6th most linked-to page.

It got a link from Seth Godin

Done by a 17 year-old

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Step 5: Do The Hard Work

Do The Big Work (Seth Godin)

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Step 6: Outreach

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/outreach-for-linkbuilding-whiteboard-

friday

Remember these guys?

Now it’s time for

outreach.

Email

Social media

PR

John Doherty

SEO Consultant at Distilled NYC.

Traveler.

Rock climber.

Company Blog: http://www.distilled.net/blog/

Personal Blog: http://www.johnfdoherty.com/

Facebook – Public Profile

SEO Consultant – Distilled john.doherty@distilled.net

http://twitter.com/#!/dohertyjf

@dohertyjf

JOHN DOHERTY

Thank You

Questions?

Distilled NYC