By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
Most of the software publishers we work with, such as Microsoft, Sage and Intacct, provide syndicated content for resellers to reuse. While this is an excellent way for publishers to control and get their message out to the marketplace, it doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily beneficial for your website. What is the best way to take advantage of this content?
Never ever take it verbatim and put it on your website – not unless you want to completely sabotage your website. Here’s why:
- Duplicate content
Search engines really do not like duplicate content. They’ll index the first version and ignore the rest and your website will pay the penalty. Use the syndicated content as a starting point and change ALL OF IT. Well, what is the point then?
You need to be clear on why your prospect should buy from you. If you have the same content as everyone else, does it really tell your prospect anything? It may provide great product information that they can get from the publisher’s website but it doesn’t give your prospect any clues about what you can do for them.
Ask yourself whether the pages on your website answer the following questions:
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- What problems does your company solve for your prospects? This helps your prospect understand whether or not you can help them.
- What types of organizations do you help? This helps your prospect identify whether you’re a good fit for them or not.
- What end to end solution do you deliver? This will help your prospect know whether you can service all their needs or whether they should continue shopping and piece a solution together.
- What is your process? This helps your prospect understand what they can expect from you if they purchase.
2. Vertical focus
Go one better than the above. Publishers often provide good calls to action or offers such as white papers, case studies, videos, etc. so use them as a starting point, especially if they are relevant to your focus. Should you have a specific industry focus, only utilize the relevant materials, if they exist, as your starting point. Write your pages using the terminology of the industry including the pain points of the industry that you focus on, carefully curate the calls to action, and write good descriptions for them to guide your prospects where you want them to go. Should no vertical content be available it is worth investing in creating your own.
Google’s Panda 4 update rewards websites with good, unique content. If you want to make it to the first page of search results, this is the only way to go.
