The competition in the SEO area is fierce: Complete SEO teams work just like you to bring their website forward. Creativity is one way that you can give yourself a decisive head start.
There are boring websites like the proverbial sand by the sea. Are you in a competitive niche? Today, it is no longer enough to publish 08/15 content. To achieve excellent rankings, you need more. A reliable, optimized standard is not enough. So you go down in the crowd.
Attention is the most valuable currency of our time for good reason. We have to choose from all the information and stimuli that continuously patter on us. We love variety to escape from everyday life. Everything new attracts us.
With creative ideas, you draw attention to yourself and your website. Concentration increases the awareness of your brand, your site, or your company. This will put you in the public eye. This, in turn, has a positive effect on the search engine results.
Creativity has positive effects
- Other webmasters reward your efforts with backlinks.
- Users like, share, and pin your content on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest & Co.).
- This increases your click rates in the SERPS (CTR Boost).
- Your website is mentioned on the web.
- This increases the traffic on your website.
Three ways to get your users’ attention
How do you manage to draw attention to yourself creatively and stand out from your competitors?
The solution is simple: put yourself in your target group. Make yourself aware of your intent to use it – and offer you what you are looking for in an unprecedented way.
There are three main options:
- Content Marketing: Create brilliant content that will stay in your memory.
- Linkbait: Get multipliers like journalists and other webmasters to share your content with irresistible “bait.”
- Creative solutions to problems: If you encounter difficulties, try not only not to solve them according to scheme F, but also to think outside the box.
1. Content marketing: added value, added value, added value – but please in easily digestible snacks
The most important thing is to make your users happy. As an SEO, your job is to give website visitors exactly what they are looking for. Carefully researched content, a fresh write, but also a lovingly creative preparation of the material ensure an extended stay.
Make sure your posts get noticed. You have probably heard of the Hero-Hub hygiene model. It divides content into three categories. Each has its strengths. Ideally, every variant should be used on your website.
- Hero content: This is high-class content that attracts masses of users and goes viral. This includes, for example, the jump by Felix Baumgartner (idea and implementation of RedBull).
- Hub content: This content has a series of characters. They are tailored to the special interests of the target group and guide users back to your website at regular intervals.
- Hygiene content: This category includes material that is permanently relevant to your target group. This evergreen content includes “How to …” articles, wiki articles, FAQs, and advice.
Ease of reading is essential when preparing your content. Endless text deserts don’t inspire anyone. A mix of different structural and visual elements makes sense: headings, subheadings, short paragraphs, bolding, and pleasantly readable font and font size are a good start.
Also, photos, infographics, caricatures, surveys, studies, tables, and videos loosen up the content.
2. Linkbait: The worm must taste good to the fish …
You probably know the old marketing wisdom: “The worm has to taste like the fish, not the angler.” Strictly speaking, that’s no longer enough. First of all, the fish must notice the worm. Only then can he decide whether to try it and make a decision about his taste.
What does that mean for you? Nowadays, there are fishing with worms on every corner, fighting for the interest of the fish. The fish has a free choice at the buffet. For it to choose your bait, it must be different from the others.
In other words, hardly anyone links to commercial content. Even with an arbitrary freebie, you won’t knock anyone out of your socks these days. Would you like your content to be linked? Then you need a super worm! It starts with the format in which you offer your content.
Formats that webmasters, journalists, and social media users like to share:
- Funny photos, videos, drawings, and cartoons
- Well prepared, well thought out infographics
- Interesting surveys
- Scientific studies
- Tables that offer added value
Link baits are hero content. The creme de la creme à la Edgar.
3. Find creative solutions to problems
Are you after a secure backlink for your customer or your website? Getting high authority websites is not easy. If the webmaster does not respond to your request, contact him in another way.
The magic word is networking:
- Find the person in charge on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
- You may find a standard level about hobbies and interests.
- Do you share the same sense of humor? Then comment on his posts!
- Most webmasters are in dozens of different groups. Maybe he needs help with something? If you can solve his problem, you have your foot in the door.
- Or ask him for an interview in which he can substantiate his expert status. Invite him to your podcast! Greet him via Skype on your YouTube channel or ask him for your blog. You get to know each other through the conversation. After that, it may work with the link.
The fear of your courage
Not every idea is suitable for content marketing. Nevertheless, you should first collect everything you can think of spontaneously. Do you have a team around you? Brainstorm! Write everything down and let your thoughts mature. You can learn how to optimize a website according to SEO criteria.
But the big hit is only possible through creativity.
Going public with an idea takes courage. It may be that you sometimes miss the mark. The following applies here: If you are 100 percent behind your design, go through your plan! There are always critical voices. Stay tuned, and don’t be put off. You never know in advance whether your idea will work properly or not. You have no choice but to jump into the cold water.
Creative SEO ideas
Link building will continue to be a decisive ranking factor. Creativity is particularly important in this area. What are the ways to turn brainwaves into engaging content? Creativity is required again.
Here I present three original ideas from the SEO scene.
1. Ego bait: SEO poster
Martin Missfeldt is considered the “great father” of the SEO poster: in 2011, he had the idea of immortalizing well-known German SEOs on a sign to improve their image. The motto at that time was “SEOs are only human”. To date, some SEOs proudly use the drawings created on the computer as a profile picture.
Source: https://www.tagseoblog.de/auch-nur-menschen-seo-poster-2011
The current SEO poster by von Sumago (2019) is also very well received:
Source: https://www.campixx.de/seo-poster-2019/
2. Linkbait: You vs. the Kardashians
The British fashion platform Missy Empire, founded in 2015, shows just how brilliant an idea can be. There is a calculator, “You versus the Kardashians,” on the website. There you can calculate how long it takes a member of the Kardashian family to earn your salary. The idea is original, funny, and makes for conversation.
Source: https://www.missyempire.com/you-vs-the-kardashians/
The media coverage was not long in coming. Large newspapers and well-known websites linked to the calculator. The action brought Missy Empire over 600 backlinks.
3rd round-up posts: GrowthUp expert panel
The online magazine GrowthUp regularly organizes expert groups and invites well-known voices from the industry. Nine SEOs like Martin Brosy, Katja Budnikov, and Martin Mißfeldt have their say on the topic “How much creativity is there in search engine optimization ?”, This shows why search engine optimization is a very creative profession.
Experts fill your blog with high-quality, up-to-date content. At the same time, you have a high level of self-interest in distributing the blog post. Accordingly, they share the link with their community, which ensures reach and traffic. You will also make valuable contacts in your industry.
4. Studies: data and facts
You also attract attention to self-conducted reviews. SEO-Vergleich.de, the comparison portal of the SEO industry, has carried out extensive research on the visibility of SEO agencies. The idea behind it: Anyone who offers SEO as a service should master their craft and achieve excellent visibility on Google. For one year, seo-vergleich.de recorded how 335 agencies performed with around 1,000 relevant keywords with SEO relevance. The result is a ranking of the 30 most German SEO agencies visible on Google. In addition to backlinks, the publication of the study results brought a lot of traffic. On the one hand, the industry is interested in seeing who did what and how. On the other hand, everyone who is looking for an agency stops by.
Another example is the vertical in-house salary study: companies and public service in-house SEOs are encouraged to take part in the survey on “salary.” The result of the 10-minute survey should show what salaries look like. Ultimately, everyone benefits from greater transparency. After all, everyone wants to receive a fair wage or buy the best possible performance at a reasonable price.
You see: With your studies you generate attention, traffic, and backlinks. The data collected is generally exciting and relevant for at least one industry. And they offer you material for other blog articles, videos, and podcasts.
Conclusion
The technical side of search engine optimization is essential. But it is not enough to unwind the standard program and do 08/15 SEO if you want to push your website. Creativity is a way to prevail against your competition. Freely based on Immanuel Kant: Have the courage to realize your ideas.
If you manage to attract attention to your website with a “bang”, you kill several birds with one stone: you get more traffic. Your company is gaining popularity. Large sites and newspapers link to you. (And that is just the beginning.)
