It can be defined as the set of guidelines to help with planning, creating, and managing all of your content.<\/p>\n
Why is content strategy important?<\/h2>\n
Without a content development strategy, it\u2019ll be hard to achieve any business goals that you\u2019ve decided upon.<\/p>\n
Instead of working from a detailed plan that\u2019ll help your business get more traffic and customers, you\u2019ll be following the publish and pray approach of writing random articles and hoping they move the needle.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, a documented content marketing plan can help with the following:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Make you way more effective at content marketing<\/li>\n
- Make you less stressed and frazzled (you have a detailed map you\u2019re following)<\/li>\n
- Have more time for content promotion and other aspects of your digital marketing strategy<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Able to dedicate more time, energy, and money to your content efforts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Creating content won\u2019t grow your business, improve your search engine rankings, or bring new customers into your business. But, creating content that\u2019s in alignment with a well-thought-out content marketing strategy will help you do all of those things, and more.<\/div>\nHere are a few reasons you\u2019ll want a content strategy in place:<\/p>\n
It supports your larger business goals<\/strong><\/p>\n
With an overarching content marketing strategy in place, you\u2019ll be able to see how your content efforts support larger goals.<\/p>\n
Even goals that seem more ethereal, like improving brand awareness and growing website authority<\/strong><\/a>. A robust content creation strategy can even attract high-level employees into your world.<\/p>\n
Without a content strategy, your onsite and offsite content creation efforts don\u2019t fit into the puzzle and you\u2019ll be wasting your time and money.<\/p>\n
You can see what\u2019s working<\/strong><\/p>\n
Even the best laid out website content strategy won\u2019t always deliver the results you anticipated. It\u2019s difficult to predict what\u2019s going to succeed, this is doubly true if it\u2019s your first time executing a content creation strategy.<\/p>\n
To truly succeed you\u2019ll need to continuously test, experiment, and refine your strategy. Luckily, there are all kinds of tools that\u2019ll give you accurate data and feedback, so you can see what your readers and visitors are responding to most.<\/p>\n
The more data you have to work with, the better you\u2019ll be able to predict and create content that brings you tangible results.<\/div>\nIt helps you publish quality content consistently<\/strong><\/p>\n
Succeeding with content marketing requires a consistent publishing schedule. You need to have your articles mapped out and a clear direction as to where you\u2019re heading.<\/p>\n
Publishing content isn\u2019t about volume alone, but instead covering every topic you want to highlight in-depth. Instead of publishing one-off content pieces whenever you feel like it, you\u2019ll be able to publish a steady flow of content.<\/p>\n
This provides feedback into other goals as well, such as giving you more data to work with when refining your strategy.<\/p>\n
To make things simple, don\u2019t start writing until you have a content marketing strategy in place.<\/div>\nGood news for you, you\u2019re just about to learn how.<\/p>\n
How to Develop a Content Strategy<\/h2>\n
These are the steps to follow to create a content strategy:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Set your business goals<\/a><\/li>\n
- Define your target audience<\/a><\/li>\n
- Research your audience content needs<\/a><\/li>\n
- Identify what’s working for competitors<\/a><\/li>\n
- Run a website content audit<\/a><\/li>\n
- Develop a content marketing plan<\/a><\/li>\n
- Create the best content possible<\/a><\/li>\n
- Optimize your content for the web<\/a><\/li>\n
- Publish and promote your content<\/a><\/li>\n
- Measure the effectiveness of your content strategy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
1. Set your business goals<\/h3>\n
Content marketing can be very effective, but it\u2019ll be hard to generate an ROI if you don\u2019t have goals you can aim towards.<\/p>\n
Without creating tangible and achievable goals it\u2019ll be near impossible to determine if your content is hitting the mark.<\/p>\n
Here are some common goals that you can model your strategy after:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Improve brand awareness<\/li>\n
- Grow the number of leads<\/li>\n
- Improve overall revenue<\/li>\n
- Increase organic traffic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We can also take these a step further and tie them to trackable metrics like:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Get 25 brand mentions\/links from websites with a DA of 50+<\/li>\n
- Increase email subscribers by 200%<\/li>\n
- Grow organic traffic to 100,000 visitors per month in 6 months<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe more you can quantify your goals the easier you\u2019ll be able to see if you\u2019re on track.<\/div>\n
2. Define your target audience<\/h3>\n
![\"audience](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/audience-personas.png\")
Learn as much as you can about your audience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Who are you targeting with your content? And no, anyone who has an internet connection isn\u2019t narrow enough.<\/p>\n
Your audience will not only dictate what you write about, but how you write, and how you promote your content<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n
Get this step wrong and you\u2019ll be publishing content to nothing but crickets.<\/p>\n
When narrowing down on your audience you\u2019ll want to define their lifestyle, problems, needs, and concerns.<\/p>\n
Depending on your business, you might be speaking to multiple different buyer personas, as well as people who are at different parts of the customer lifecycle.<\/p>\n
Keep in mind that your audience isn\u2019t wholly made up of buyers as well. Your audience is simply the overarching group of people who are interested in your topic. This also includes followers, buyers, and advocates who not only buy but spread the word about your brand.<\/p>\n
Here are some questions you can ask to pinpoint your target audience:<\/p>\n
- \n
- What\u2019s the age, gender, and education level?<\/li>\n
- What\u2019s the average income?<\/li>\n
- What are their hobbies and interests?<\/li>\n
- What problems do they have?<\/li>\n
- What are their goals and dreams?<\/li>\n
- What websites do they love?<\/li>\n
- What social networks do they use the most?<\/li>\n
- What books and magazines do they read?<\/li>\n
- How do they research before making a purchase?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
When you\u2019re creating content you\u2019ll be writing directly towards these buyer personas.<\/p>\n
3. Research your audience content needs<\/h3>\n
When you\u2019re planning out your content it can be helpful to research what your audience is already looking for. By creating content that serves their needs you\u2019ll cut out a ton of guesswork and ensure your readers will be interested in your content.<\/p>\n
Here are two ways you can uncover your audience\u2019s desires:<\/p>\n
Keyword research<\/strong><\/p>\n
By doing keyword research<\/strong><\/a> you\u2019ll be able to find keywords that can send you relevant traffic, along with hidden gems you can target and rank for quickly.<\/p>\n
As you research you\u2019ll start to notice trends or groups of topics that your audience is the most interested in.<\/p>\n
By using a tool like SEMRush<\/strong><\/a> you can uncover valuable keywords your competitors are targeting, along with keywords worth building your content around.<\/p>\n
![\"Long](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/long-tail-keywords-search-curve.png\")
Long Tail Keywords – Search Curve<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n User intent<\/strong><\/p>\n
This is covered in more detail below, but user intent refers to what your users are searching for when they type a keyword into Google.<\/p>\n
The more you can closely satisfy user intent the higher your content can rank.<\/p>\n
There are three types of searches that keywords will fall under:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Searchers want more information about a topic<\/li>\n
- Searchers are looking for a website<\/li>\n
- Searchers are looking to make a purchase<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The quickest way you can determine user intent is by seeing what kind of content is ranking the highest in the search engines. This will help to inform the type of content you should be creating.<\/p>\n
Resources to Learn More<\/span>
\nSearch ideas<\/strong><\/a> – how to use various tools to find content topic ideas for your campaigns.<\/div>\n4. Identify what’s working for competitors<\/h3>\n
When you\u2019re crafting your strategy there\u2019s no reason to go in blind. You can see what your competitors have done successfully, along with any holes in their strategy you can capitalize on.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re analyzing your competitors there are a handful of questions you\u2019ll want to keep in mind:<\/p>\n
- \n
- How much traffic are they getting?<\/li>\n
- What sources provide the most traffic?<\/li>\n
- What keywords are they ranking for?<\/li>\n
- What websites are linking to them?<\/li>\n
- How well is their content performing?<\/li>\n
- Are there any gaps in their content strategy?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The best tool for this is SEMRush<\/strong><\/a>. With SEMRush all you have to do is input your competitor\u2019s URL and you\u2019ll get information like:<\/p>\n
![\"competitor](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/competitor-analysis.png\")
Use SEMRush to perform a thorough competitor analysis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n - \n
- The organic keywords that send the most traffic<\/li>\n
- The total number of keywords they rank for<\/li>\n
- The pages that send the most traffic<\/li>\n
- The top organic search competitors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
5. Run a website content audit<\/h3>\n
To create a website content strategy that\u2019ll succeed in 2022 and beyond you\u2019ll want to take stock of what\u2019s currently working. If you\u2019ve been creating content without a plan in place, then you probably have a lot of dead content that isn\u2019t serving your business.<\/p>\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/content-audit-process.png\")
How to perform a content audit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n A content audit will show you what content is serving your business and what\u2019s holding you back.<\/p>\n
Here are a few things you\u2019ll want to analyze:<\/p>\n
- \n
- What content is performing the best<\/li>\n
- What content is underperforming<\/li>\n
- How often you\u2019re publishing content<\/li>\n
- What keywords you\u2019re currently ranking for<\/li>\n
- Which pages\/posts have the worst onsite metrics<\/li>\n
- Which pages\/posts are causing visitors to leave your site<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The information you gain here will help you better understand how your site is performing and what kinds of content are already bringing you results.<\/p>\n
Once you know what content is underperforming, you can either get rid of it entirely or repurpose it into something more valuable.<\/p>\n
\nResources to Learn More<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- How to perform a content audit<\/strong><\/a> – how to find and fix thin content pages on your website.<\/li>\n
- How to perform a website review<\/strong><\/a> – how to review your website (besides content)<\/li>\n
- Content audit process<\/strong> <\/a>– how to do a content audit (with template)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
6. Develop a content marketing plan<\/h3>\n
By now you should have a solid understanding of the following:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Your existing content, how it performs, and what\u2019s worth keeping<\/li>\n
- The exact target audience<\/strong><\/a> you\u2019re creating content for<\/li>\n
- The goals you\u2019re trying to achieve with your content strategy framework<\/li>\n
- The type of content you\u2019re creating and keywords you\u2019re targeting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Now, it\u2019s time to put all of this together into a content marketing plan. Here are some of the elements you content marketing plan will include:<\/p>\n
![\"Example](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/content-marketing-plan-example.png\")
Example of a content marketing plan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n - \n
- Who\u2019s responsible for creating the content<\/li>\n
- What stage of the sales funnel each article will address<\/li>\n
- The format the content will be published<\/li>\n
- When the content will be published<\/li>\n
- The steps you\u2019ll take to promote the content<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
Resources to Learn More<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- Content marketing checklist<\/strong> <\/a>– a comprehensive checklist to follow when developing a content marketing plan<\/li>\n
- Content marketing courses<\/strong> <\/a>– a list of courses to help you understand how to implement content marketing campaigns<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
7. Create the best content possible<\/h3>\n
This was mentioned briefly above, but you should always aim to create content that\u2019s better than your competition. As you analyze the search results take note of how you would improve what\u2019s currently ranking the highest.<\/p>\n
This could be a number of factors like:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Writing in an easier to digest format<\/li>\n
- Including more media like pictures and videos<\/li>\n
- Adding graphics to create a better user experience<\/li>\n
- Creating a longer article that covers every aspect of the topic<\/li>\n
- And on and on<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Follow E-A-T<\/strong><\/p>\n
EAT stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, and is a way that Google evaluates your credibility on a given topic. Scoring high on these metrics will help you rank higher.<\/p>\n
![\"Importance](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EAT-ranking-factor.png\")
Importance of Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness for Rankings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Here\u2019s how it breaks down:<\/p>\n
- \n
- This means that you have a high level of knowledge and expertise on a given topic.<\/li>\n
- This means you (or your website) has a solid reputation in your space, whether that\u2019s from users, other websites, or third-party reviews.<\/li>\n
- This includes things like content accuracy, legitimacy, and transparency, including contact and business information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Create pillar pages<\/strong><\/p>\n
Pillar pages<\/strong><\/a> seek to be the absolute best piece of content for a given keyword or topic. Generally, these will be much longer than traditional blog posts.<\/p>\n
There are two approaches to pillar pages. The first is creating a long, in-depth article that covers every single detail about a topic. Or, it can be a category page that links out to other relevant articles you\u2019ve written.<\/p>\n
![\"Pillar](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/pillar-pages.png\")
What is a Pillar Page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Pillar pages can give you a boost in the search engine rankings, along with uniting different categories of content across your website.<\/p>\n
Here are some tips to keep in mind when you\u2019re creating pillar pages:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Look for topic clusters (content that can be grouped into a category) within your existing content<\/li>\n
- Combine this content into a bigger post, or a category page with links to every relevant article<\/li>\n
- Do keyword research to find high-traffic keywords you can target<\/li>\n
- Write the absolute best article on your chosen topic\/set of keywords<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Utilize different content formats<\/strong><\/p>\n
Blog posts aren\u2019t the only type of content you should be creating. Ideally, you\u2019ll be creating multiple forms of content to cater to every member of your audience.<\/p>\n
![\"Content](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/different-content-types.png\")
Content Types<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Some of your visitors will like to read, while others will prefer video, interactive content, or downloadables like a PDF.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a quick look at some of the different forms of content you can create:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Studies and data-backed content, written interviews, and more<\/li>\n
- Video content like podcasts, how-tos, webinars, and live events<\/li>\n
- Visual content like slideshows and infographics<\/li>\n
- Interactive content like quizzes and tests<\/li>\n
- Downloadable PDFs like eBooks, checklists, tutorials, and white papers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
One way to maximize your content creation strategy is to repurpose your content. Once you\u2019ve published an article you can:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Transform it into an infographic<\/li>\n
- Create a slideshow presentation<\/li>\n
- Create shareable social media graphics<\/li>\n
- Write a longer eBook from popular articles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
8. Optimize your content for the web<\/h3>\n
Even if you have incredibly well-written content it\u2019s going to be hard to rank if it\u2019s not optimized correctly.<\/p>\n
On-page SEO<\/strong><\/a> is usually overshadowed by off-page SEO<\/strong> <\/a>factors. However, by getting on-page right you\u2019re laying a solid foundation that will make all of your other SEO efforts much easier.<\/p>\n
![\"On-Page](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/on-page-seo.png\")
On-Page SEO Techniques<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Here are a few key elements of proper content optimization:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Make your URLs short and readable, include your target keyword if possible<\/li>\n
- Optimize your page titles with your target keyword and a compelling headline<\/li>\n
- Include your target keyword within the first 100 words of body content<\/li>\n
- Add relevant and related keywords to your post<\/li>\n
- Create content that effectively answers your target keyword (usually over 2000 words)<\/li>\n
- Link out to authoritative resources that enhance your content<\/li>\n
- Interlink your content to other valuable articles you\u2019ve written<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
There\u2019s a lot more that goes into proper SEO blog writing<\/strong><\/a>, but the tips above will help your content rank higher and start moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n
9. Publish and promote your content<\/h3>\n
By now you\u2019ve accomplished a lot of the hard work of research, planning, and executing your content strategy.<\/p>\n
But, your work isn\u2019t done yet. Planning and content creation is only half the battle, now it\u2019s time to promote your content<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n
One great way to do this is to strategically mention well-known brands within your content. Then, when you publish the post you can reach out to them via email or social, and let them know they\u2019re mentioned in the post.<\/p>\n
This is a great way to improve social shares and brand mentions, while providing value to influencers and authorities you\u2019d love to connect with.<\/p>\n
For example, in this article on the best free SEO courses<\/strong><\/a>, I mentioned SEMRush. They shared the post, which resulted in a huge number of social shares and likes.<\/p>\n
![\"Twitter](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/twitter-outreach-example.png\")
Twitter Outreach Example<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n There are a handful of other ways you can promote your content as well, for example:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Social media. <\/strong>Promote your article on any active social profiles<\/li>\n
- Email outreach. <\/strong>Reach out to blog\/website owners who have linked or shared similar content in the past<\/li>\n
- Paid ads. <\/strong>Run paid ads to your published article (it helps if your article is monetized in some way)<\/li>\n
- Syndicate your content. <\/strong>Re-publish your article on relevant platforms like LinkedIn, Medium, or Quora<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Each platform you use to promote your content will have its own guidelines and best practices. Over time, you\u2019ll learn which platforms give you the best response and help you achieve your content goals.<\/p>\n
10. Measure the effectiveness of your content strategy<\/h3>\n
The only way to create a content strategy that brings your business results is to analyze how your content is performing. This will help you determine what kind of content\/topics are connecting with your audience, and what\u2019s helping you reach your goals.<\/p>\n
![\"Content](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/content-marketing-kpis.jpg\")
Content Marketing KPIs (source feldmancreative.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Here are a few content KPIs to measure:<\/p>\n
- \n
- User engagement – <\/strong>This refers to how you visitors interact with your content via shares, comments, mentions from other websites<\/li>\n
- User behavior – <\/strong>This includes the number of unique visitors, bounce rate<\/strong><\/a>, page views<\/strong><\/a>, time on site, etc.<\/li>\n
- Organic search traffic<\/strong> – You\u2019re looking for an increase in organic traffic<\/strong><\/a>, the number of keywords you\u2019re ranking for, and more backlinks.<\/li>\n
- Conversion rate<\/strong> – This could be more leads, better conversion rates, more email subscribers<\/strong><\/a>, or more products purchased.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Keep in mind that content marketing is a long-term game and requires patience to see results.<\/p>\n
Content Strategy Examples<\/h2>\n
There are countless examples of successful content strategies you can draw inspiration from.<\/p>\n
Here are some of my favorite examples:<\/p>\n
- User behavior – <\/strong>This includes the number of unique visitors, bounce rate<\/strong><\/a>, page views<\/strong><\/a>, time on site, etc.<\/li>\n
- Email outreach. <\/strong>Reach out to blog\/website owners who have linked or shared similar content in the past<\/li>\n
- Social media. <\/strong>Promote your article on any active social profiles<\/li>\n
- Content marketing courses<\/strong> <\/a>– a list of courses to help you understand how to implement content marketing campaigns<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
- Content marketing checklist<\/strong> <\/a>– a comprehensive checklist to follow when developing a content marketing plan<\/li>\n
- How to perform a website review<\/strong><\/a> – how to review your website (besides content)<\/li>\n
- How to perform a content audit<\/strong><\/a> – how to find and fix thin content pages on your website.<\/li>\n
- Define your target audience<\/a><\/li>\n
- Able to dedicate more time, energy, and money to your content efforts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Canva](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/canva-organic-reach.png\")
![\"Hotjar](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hotjar-organic-reach.png\")