In today’s Tech News Tuesday episode, we’re talking about gated content. What is gated content and how can you use it?
Links in this episode: Should You Gate Your Best Blog Content? (Pros, Cons, and Tips)
Transcript
Welcome to the Get Digital Marketing Results podcast where we give you information and actionable tips to grow your organization.
Bob: Hi, I’m Bob Clark.
Donna: And I’m Donna Botti. We’re with Delos Inc and we make the web work for you. In today’s Tech News Tuesday episode, we’re talking about gated content. First of all, what is gated content? Gated content is information that’s on your website that requires someone to sign up or take some other action before they can actually view it.
Bob: Yes Donna, I see this for email sign-ups. A pop up on a website will say download our guide, or get something that I really want – just enter my email address. And this does work, and it’s a good way to grow your email list if you have information that is particularly useful and relevant to your audience.
But the Jeff Bullas website article we are discussing today looks at both the pros and cons – and when should you use gated content and when should you avoid gated content.
Donna: In terms of growing and nurturing your email list (which is still the best ROI for a small business as we have discussed previously), gated content is a winner particularly if the information you provide shows that the person signing up is a qualified lead for your organization.
There are downsides however, the main one being that if your best content is gated, it won’t rank well in organic search for people looking for that information.
Bob: Another downside is that people are often reluctant to give out their information if they are in the research stage of the process, and if they do, they may unsubscribe right away.
So what are the guidelines shared that help you determine if you should gate or not?
Donna: Gate your content if it’s valuable, practical for the audience, and aligns with your business goals. Don’t gate it if you are trying to organically rank for that content, if it is strictly promotional, or if you can’t create a measurable campaign around it to track its effectiveness.
Bob: That’s it for today’s episode. You can find the link to the article and a transcript of today’s podcast at DelosInc.com/127. Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on our actionable digital marketing tips to grow your organization.
