There is a wealth of information about how to create a content strategy. "What exactly is a content strategy?" you might wonder. If you're reading this, you're probably already involved in content creation in your company. However, before you read on, try to define content strategy. You’ll likely discover it's a trickier concept than it appears. We'll look at what we mean by "content" in this article and use that to define content strategy.
While B2C and B2B marketers will approach content and content strategy differently, a basic understanding of what is content strategy is industry-agnostic.
What is Content Strategy?
A content strategy is a plan of action created to guide content marketing activities and ensure that they achieve a specific business goal. Content planning, production, publishing, promotion, tracking, and SEO optimization are all part of this process. It also includes videos, blog posts, podcasts, and social media posts, as well as any other type of content you create.
How to Create a Content Strategy That Works?
If you've been doing content marketing for a while, it's probably time to revisit and improve your strategy. With nearly 70% of businesses investing in content marketing, the competition is fierce. What can you do to stay current while also increasing traffic and sales?
1. Perform a Content Audit First
A content audit is how businesses track down and organize all of their content. Monitoring and measuring the performance of your content regularly will help you figure out which content works best and which doesn't.
Begin by going over all of your site's existing content. Delete, update, consolidate, or redirect each piece of content based on its performance. Your goal is to have more high-performing pages on your website. The best content strategy is to improve and update it rather than deleting and redirecting older, irrelevant, or outdated content. This is especially true if the post's content focuses on your company's goals as well as a relevant keyword or phrase.
When conducting a content audit, consider the following options:
- Manually Examine the Content: If your website receives some traffic but not much from organic search, try improving it first.
- Redirecting or update (301): When you have at least one followed backlink but only receive a small amount of traffic from any source.
- Remove 404: Choose this option if your page has no followed backlinks and no traffic from anywhere.
By auditing your content, you can see which pieces of content effectively achieve your objectives and which ones aren't. Sixty-six percent of the businesses polled are conducting content audits to assess their current content.
2. Make a Content Calendar and Use it
It's crucial to consider what and when you post to your website and social media. Your content strategy should create a steady stream of content that complements your overall marketing objectives.
Everyone on your team can access and follow the visible display of topics.
- Local community events
- Timely topics
- National holidays
- Current events are some of the issues and events to put on your calendar (should be updated when it is no longer relevant)
You can spend more time on other things like recognizing relevant conversations and adding your voice in real-time if you schedule your posts ahead of time. Content calendars help you stay on track, save time, and post relevant content regularly.
3. Create a Content Strategy that is Timeless
While current events are popular for a limited time, evergreen content remains relevant and less likely to go out of style. Because evergreen content isn't seasonal, it's always valuable and relevant to your readers. Focus to create a content strategy on topics highly relevant to your niche for beginners. Use video, infographics,
SlideShare presentations, images, and blog posts, among other formats.
A few examples of evergreen content are listed below:
- Industry resources
- Guides
- Research
- Best practices
- Tutorials
- Case studies
- Common blunders
- Tips and tricks
- Resources for the industry
- Guides
- Research
Building backlinks, lowering bounce rates, and ranking higher in search engines are advantages of writing evergreen content.
4. Include SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in Your strategy
Image is taken from Strikingly
The most effective content strategy works in tandem with other digital marketing efforts. To increase the quantity and quality of organic traffic to your site from search engine results, you should incorporate SEO best practices when you develop a content strategy. Both users and search engines must benefit from your content. Even though it takes time, it is well worth the effort. For Keyword research, find the search engine terms and phrases your target market uses. Build your content around these words and phrases to improve your search engine rankings. When conducting keyword research, look for long-tail keywords and phrases to attract more relevant traffic. Include keywords that are semantically related as well. These are phrases or words that have a conceptual connection to one another.
- Google Search Console
- Keyword Tool Dominator
- Google Ads Keyword Planner
- Keywords Everywhere
- Rank Monitor
These are just a few free keyword tools available to help you find the most relevant keywords and phrases for your content and niche.
Keep in mind that, in addition to your content strategy, there are many other on-page and off-page factors that impact your SEO. Other considerations include:
- Inbound links
- Site architecture
- Backlinks
Improve your online visibility by optimizing your content for search. The majority of shoppers begin their shopping journey by looking up information about the item they want to purchase on the internet.
Use relevant keywords and phrases to show up higher in the search engines to help buyers find your brand when they're looking.
5. Repurpose Well-known Content
Image is taken from Strikingly user’s website
Getting your content noticed on the internet is difficult at best. It can be difficult to develop new and interesting topics to write about regularly. What if you didn't have to create any new content and instead repurpose existing content? You can, and it's known as repurposing. Repurposing existing content in a new format will not only save you time but will also expand your reach and keep Google happy. Because Google favors dynamic content, even highly-ranked content should be updated regularly to stay current.
Begin by concentrating on a content strategy that has gotten the most attention. Here are some ideas for giving your content a new lease on life:
- Create a SlideShare presentation from a blog post
- Create an infographic to visually represent post content
- Combine popular posts into an eBook, how-to guide, or whitepaper
- Tweet current content statistics
- Convert existing content into videos
- Turn narrated videos into podcasts by removing the audio
- Compile the most frequently asked questions from support into a FAQ page on your site
- Create an email series out of valuable content.
Repurposing your content for maximum effectiveness is the best strategy for getting the most out of it. The options are limitless.
Make sure to analyse and track your results to focus your efforts on marketing initiatives that will increase traffic and sales.
6. Use Eye-catching Graphics
Image is taken from Strikingly user’s website
Visuals that are engaging and compelling are pleasing to the eye and capture the attention of your target market. Keep in mind that stock photos do not generate the same level of engagement as custom images. So, what do you do if you don't have a graphic designer on staff or don't have access to one? Non-designers can use various online visual creation tools to create unique, compelling, and attention-getting graphics. Canva, Snappa, Venngage, Bannersnack, Infogram, Piktochart, and Visme are just a few available tools. Readers will stay on your site longer if you use engaging visuals to break up long blocks of text. Infographic elements, diagrams, and custom visuals are all options.
- Use creative graphics to make your content more memorable and shareable. Make sure your visuals are relevant to your content and communicate your main point.
- Incorporate your brand elements, such as your company logo, colors, and font, to increase recognition.
7. Analyze Customer Data to Segment Your Audience
- Tailor all of your content to what your target audience wants, needs, or enjoys. Analyze your customer data using a CRM or website analytics tool to better understand your audience.
- Begin by categorizing your customers based on their age, gender, income, geographic location, and other relevant factors.
Dig deeper into the data you've collected about current customers' preferences and behaviors to figure out what types of content will drive traffic to your site. Buyer personas are used to describe the various targets that most businesses have. These groups differ in motivations, demographics, and interests, but they may share one or more common characteristics, such as working parents. Ask your customers in person, through interviews, or surveys to create personas. Monitoring what your customers say and do online is another way to better understand your target market. Use a tool like Mention to keep track of your customers' conversations and your competitors, industry, and other brand mentions. Segmenting your target audience is a strategic way to create a content strategy tailored to specific segments of your target audience.
Strikingly
Image is taken from Strikingly
You don't just need good website content to ensure that your website is effective; you also need a great website. Strikingly is a website builder that can assist you in achieving both of these goals. You'll get not only a guide to creating optimized content but also a website with a unique look with Strikingly. Creating a website has never been easier than Strikingly. You simply need to select one of Strikingly's ready-to-use template collections. You can search the template collection by category, making finding the perfect template for your website easier.
Strikingly also has features that will assist you in writing good website content.
Strikingly can help you improve the SEO of your website's content. This is critical because no matter how good your web content is, if it can't be found by search engines, it won't be effective. Furthermore, Strikingly will provide you with built-in analytics. You can also use Google Analytics to better understand how your website content is performing. Our help center has a guide on integrating analytics with your website.
Conclusion
Use the content strategy tips and suggestions above to improve your content and increase your online traffic. Maintain a consistent and distinct brand voice. Because your target audience is uninterested in you or your plans, create a content strategy that is customer-focused. They are concerned with their own difficulties, problems, and desires. While the Internet and evolving technology will continue to evolve, the fundamental principle will not. Develop a content strategy based on reliable data that is seamless and satisfying. Take the time to develop and implement a unified and integrated content strategy, and your efforts will be rewarded with increased revenue.
