Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition

Comprehensive How-to Articles

The bread and butter of your content should be articles that explain to your reader base how to overcome important challenges they face. This type of content is popular because it meets the needs of your readers. When people discover something new, they'll find great value in your content, pushing your rocket ship further out into space.

To create great how-to articles, you need to know your readers' hot button issues. (Refer back to the section in Chapter 4 on determining the desires of your ideal reader base.) When you hit a chord with people, they will widely share and reference your articles.

In the case of SocialMediaExaminer.com, nearly half of all of our published articles focus on how to use social media to grow a business. We carefully examine the latest trends in our marketplace and recruit writers to author comprehensive articles on relevant topics.

For example, when Foursquare was growing in popularity, we produced a number of articles on how to use the geolocation service to drive traffic to local businesses.

Here are some of the titles of those articles:

• “Foursquare: Are You Checking Out the Hottest Social Media App?”
• “Why Foursquare Drives Business: What You Need to Know”
• “How to Drive More Customers to Your Local Business with Social Geotagging”

Take a look at the example how-to article in Appendix A called “How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business.” This particular piece was very popular. As you read it, pay close attention to how ...