How long ago did you do your last Google search? Probably no more than two days ago. In a digital world, the solution to nearly all problems is found on the internet and you as a business person or entrepreneur want to solve the problems that other people have, and if they manage to find you, maybe they will become your clients, your job then is to make sure that those people find you when they decide to google for a solution to their problem or in the best of cases when they decide to google your company.
That’s what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about, and it is of vital importance when you want to make sure you have a constant acquisition of customers, according to the Inbound methodology, SEO is made up of 5 ideal practices to achieve a high rate of effectiveness:
1. Research your keywords.
2. Create content around your keywords.
3. Optimize content around a main keyword.
4. Promote your content.
5. Gain links to your content.
The last three cannot exist without the first two and it is on these two that we are going to focus as they can be found using good storytelling. In essence, for the Inbound Marketing methodology, keywords are the words written in a search engine and they are topics on which a person is looking for more information, in order to find those words it is useful to use the buyer’s journey, a scheme focused on solving problems that your potential customers might have, the buyer’s journey looks something like this:
Storytelling and keywords
Great stories begin with a great character and that character in this case is your brand, the creation of stories allows you to define brand attributes closely related to their personality, in the same way it can help you find a unique position that can be expressed in words as described in this post on how to find your position using storytelling.
These attributes, which can be values or personality traits such as punctuality or transparency, are your first keywords as well as your offers, as is evident, these unique traits are essential, both to ensure a strong SEO position and to start capitalizing the position that your brand seeks in the mind of its consumers. (If you do not know it, we invite you to read this article on how to find your positioning).
Make a list of those words, for example if your business is a trekking boots business with home delivery: Boots, field, home delivery, punctual, better quality, etc., and then check the buyer’s journey again. Thinking about the profile of your audience and keeping in mind the tone of voice of your brand, ask questions around your keywords for each of the stages of the buyer journey, for example using the same boots example:
Discovery: What is the best outdoor shoe?
Consideration: Differences between boots and outdoor shoes.
Decision: Opinions on our boots and delivery service.
Try to make a list with about 10 questions for each stage. Now that you know the keywords with which people are likely to search for your solutions to their problems, we have to make sure that search engines are able to find us easily.
Storytelling and content.
Search engines find answers to our queries by identifying the most relevant, useful and reliable information possible and presenting it in a list of results organized by priority dictated by a coefficient of popularity and authorship, that is, the more popular and authentic your content is, the more any search engine will easily find you and therefore it will be easier for your customers to find you.
Using structures for the construction of stories we can create captivating content that through its solid structure might achieve popularity among the audiences interested in your products, this content can range from blog posts to viral videos or podcasts. There are many structures to tell a story, the one we use is described as: A – B – D – C – E, which stands for Action, Background, Development, Climax, End.
If your keywords are closely linked to the personality traits of your brand, it will be very easy to create content that is attractive and has a good opportunity to compete for popularity on the Internet, while building a position in the mind of your consumer, transmitting the values of your brand, hence the importance of thinking about building your brand at an early stage since each of your efforts will contribute towards that goal.
The content that you must create will have to be inspired by the answer to the questions that we identify when finding your keywords and the format of the content will depend on factors such as convenience, affinity with your audience and budget, the choice of the ideal formats is Part of the optimization and the messages transmitted must revolve around your keywords, this is essential since it will make each piece of content a relevant, useful and trustworthy piece of authentic authorship, precisely the qualities that search engines love to put in the first results.
Now you must make sure to follow a structure to plan each piece of content, if you want to use the storytelling structure that we described above you should know:
Action: This is a physical action, something that your character has to get up to do, including an action at the beginning of a sentence is a sure way to capture attention as it leaves you thinking; in the case of a narrative that begins with a character jumping a fence; Ok she jumped the fence and then what?
Background: The reasons, as deep or banal as they may be, that led the character to jump over the fence are explained.
Development (development): The actions, or better obstacles that prevent the character from reaching his goal.
Climax: The key moment in which the character is about to fulfill his mission; It is important that you keep in mind that usually if it is a content specifically created with a clearly commercial purpose, such as a viral video like a television commercial, the main character of the story must represent the profile of your buyers, and the hero that must be your product, must help him reach his goal right at the climax of the story.
End: The outcome of events, the ideal time to deliver a teaching, a moral or a key message.
This structure works at many levels for all types of content and even to propose strategies of all kinds. This is how Storytelling can help you with your SEO while helping you start building a solid brand from the first marketing actions you take no matter how small they are. This is the true power of Storytelling.
If you are interested in using storytelling to create content and enhance your SEO strategy, the best way to start is to create your own blog, if you have the technological capacity to create a blog page on your website do not hesitate to do it, if you do not have it, there are Many pages like WordPress that offer free domains that you can easily link to your company page, using the structure we gave you you can start writing blog texts that have a captivating structure and that revolve around your keywords.
If you are interested in learning more about how to build a brand using the power of Storytelling, we invite you to register for our newsletter by clicking the button, if this article was useful, do not hesitate to share it, until the next time.