Why you should focus on building a content strategy
Why you should focus on building a content strategy
A good content strategy is a key element of any successful business. Your product could be the best in the business, but for it to be a success, people need to know about it.
Businesses need to create content that engages their audience, increases their visibility and helps drive conversions. As a small business owner, you’re likely to have financial, development, or leadership strategies in place to achieve certain goals or targets. A content strategy is no different.
Let’s look at how you can build an effective content creation strategy and how it can help you reach your goals.
What is an SEO content strategy?
An SEO (search engine optimisation) content strategy is exactly that—taking a strategic approach to your content. Content in all its forms will help you to establish your brand voice and identity, but what is a strategic content creation strategy?
An SEO content strategy is an essential part of your marketing. You’ll need to research your audience, identify relevant keywords, scope out the competition, and map out your content plan. By planning ahead, tracking your progress, and refining your strategy, you can develop a strong content strategy that ensures you create content that resonates with your target market.
The purpose of an SEO content strategy is to outline how you will use content creation and marketing to improve your brand's visibility. It involves creating high-quality content that’s optimised to attract more organic traffic to your website, which in turn could generate more leads. Organic content that’s true to your brand is key when building a content marketing strategy. Search Engine Journal discovered that in-house organic efforts drove 12% more website traffic than fully-outsourced efforts. It’s clear that getting your business noticed through original and engaging content is key. The more clicks, the more customers you may get.
How to create an SEO content strategy
Strategic content is all about delivering value to your audience that aligns with the goals of your business. By focusing on the right topics, keywords, and content formats, you can build a content creation strategy that works for you.
Audience insight - Understand your demographic. Knowing the age, gender, lifestyle, education, relationship status and job roles of your audience can help you steer your content strategy in the right direction.
Keyword Research - Keywords could boost you to the top of the Google search page, so you need to know the best ones for your industry and create content around them. Google’s keyword planner is great for beginners.
Planning - Create a content calendar. Ideally, you should plan months in advance and include holidays and brand initiatives but also allow flexibility for trends and world events when needed. Software like Later and Planoly are specifically designed to help you plan your content efficiently.
Creation - Now for the fun part - content creation! Depending on your brand and goals you’ll need social media content, long-form blog posts, newsletters, product pages and so much more. Try new things and get creative. Keep in mind the customer journey and all the potential contact points. There are so many different formats available, from YouTube tutorials, TikTok trends, articles, email newsletters and industry insights there are so many ways to get your content out there.
Amplification - You’ve got great content, now you need people to see it! Boost the visibility of your content by using social media and PR to make sure your content gets the attention it deserves.
Measurement - KPIs and metrics will help you review your content strategy regularly and make changes depending on results and feedback.
What tools do you need to create and measure a content strategy?
There are plenty of tools out there that help you understand what content is driving traffic to your site and, equally important, what content is not. Google Analytics, SEMrush, and Ahrefs are excellent tools that can help you understand how your content is performing. They will show you information such as the number of clicks on your website, search terms, conversions and more. Social media platforms can also help businesses too, with useful analytics about their followers and how they are interacting with your posts.
How to improve SEO with a content strategy
When you have access to valuable audience insights, it may help optimise your content strategy and improve its impact on your target audience. When you have a good content strategy, your overall SEO activity will likely improve in more ways than one:
When people search for your services, you’re likely to be at the top of the search results…
Which would most likely increase your website traffic.
Once they’re on your website, they’re more likely to stay longer.
Which, in turn, could increase your brand awareness and visibility…
With the desired end result being to generate genuine high-value leads.
By investing time and resources into a well-crafted SEO content marketing plan, you can help your business stand out in a crowded digital marketplace. If you need any further advice on SEO content marketing, read more here. You can also get 1-2-1 support by speaking to one of our V-Hub Digital Advisers.
