​If you’re like most people, you’re frequently planning future epic changes and life-altering decisions, all fueled by a simple list of goals. While most people will include strategies for getting healthy, improving relationships and upping productivity at work (especially at the beginning of the year), you can also apply link-building resolutions to your SEO content marketing strategy at any point in the year to improve the strength and effectiveness of your content. Here are a few do’s and don’ts to consider when creating your top link-building strategies.

 

5 Link-Building Strategies You Should Avoid

SEO link-building tactics aren’t just about incorporating a lot of good things, they are also about avoiding strategies that diminish or minimize your efforts. Here are 5 don’ts you should be aware of.

 

1. Don’t Overlink

More links equal more connections and more credibility, right? While adding links can give your page a boost, adding too many will push it the other way. Google’s ranking algorithm makes sure that the type of links you use affects your place in search results. Neil Patel states that “five quality links from authority sites will weigh more heavily in your favor than ten mediocre links from generic sites.”

2. Don’t Use Paid Links

One part of creating successful SEO link-building strategies is knowing where to put your money. While paid links are okay in some situations, you do want to exercise caution when using them. You must make sure that your source is going to use best practices and follow Google’s webmaster and advertising guidelines, otherwise, it is best to just avoid paid links.

 

3. Don’t Use Keywords As Anchor Texts

There are certain words that you should avoid using as your anchor text when creating links. While it is okay for some of these to be included in the link, you should never use the following on their own:

• The word “link” or “website”
• The URL
• The name of the company or site
• The domain

Instead, choose a relevant phrase to create your link that will catch the reader’s eye. It’s also important to make sure the anchor text you are using does not contain keywords you are trying to win. You want readers to come to your site when they see that keyword, not be directed elsewhere.

 

4. Don’t Use Any Form of Manipulation

If you are considering doing something that may be frowned upon and you aren’t sure if Google will penalize you for it, the best idea is to refrain. Trying to “work the system” rarely works with the ever-changing algorithms and constant updates. Taking shortcuts to get to the top usually results in a quick trip to the bottom. A better choice is to follow Google’s rules and go for sustainability rather than speed.

 

5. Don’t Overlook the Value of Natural Links

While you may be focusing heavily on contacting other bloggers and businesses to trade links, don’t overlook the value of natural links. Higher placement in Google’s search results can mean more natural links by bloggers who are searching. These will come as your page gains credibility, but they shouldn’t be overlooked in your zest for creating reciprocal relationships.

 

5 Link-Building Strategies You SHOULD Use

Now that you know how to avoid some big link-building potholes, get started on finding the best SEO link-building strategies out there. We have 5 do’s you might want to investigate.

 

1. Do Learn How to Monitor Your Backlinks

While it may seem obvious, there are actually several marketers who have no idea how to find out who is linking back to them. Educating yourself on this can give you a much clearer idea of where you stand in the blogging world. It will also alert you to the type of posts that generate the most traffic and the sites that are most often linking to you.

 

2. Do Link in Lists

According to EarnedLinks.com, the top type of content that was linked to was lists, which were linked to 74 percent more than any other type of content. The next most frequent type was infographics. If you want a piece that is shareable, the statistics point to the fact that pictures and lists are the biggest draw for linking. Incorporate this knowledge into your link-building strategies and be sure to mention this to your blog writing service so they can cater to your needs.

 

3. Do Develop Relationships

Did you write a great post that got mentioned by another blogger? That’s great, but there is more to do now. Rather than just patting yourself on the back and moving on to your next topic, start developing a relationship with this blogger. Start by contacting them, either through email or by phone. You can request additional links, or you can begin building a solid reciprocal relationship by asking to do an interview or allow them to guest blog on your site. This can open up your page to an entirely new audience of devoted followers. Content collaborations are also great opportunities to work with established bloggers. Expert roundup posts can also allow you to mention several bloggers at once and plant the seeds of many reciprocal relationships.

One type of relationship that is often overlooked is the one created with editors. By having an established line of communication with the editors of certain sites, you will be more likely to have your article picked up and republished. Before you contact any blogger or editor, search carefully for the site owner’s name. Using manners and courtesy can get you far when requesting backlinks. Be sure to let them know the exact place you think your link would fit on their site or the topic you think they could guest-blog about.

 

4. Do Make Your Link Building Content-Based

While you can insert whatever type of links you choose, almost all marketing managers stated that the most effective and popular tactic they used was link building that was based on content. Part of the reason for this is that the sites you link to are more likely to return the favor if the move makes sense, and that is unlikely to happen if your link was not based on content. If you use content writing services, be sure that they are aware of this and create appropriate links.

 

5. Do Create Client Links

While you generally want to link to reputable companies, linking to your current customers is another great way to expand your client base. Offering incentives for past customers to leave reviews, then posting those to your website and linking back to the author gives you easy links. If they give a testimonial, they may also be interested in sharing their statement on their own website.

 

Use SEO Link-Building Strategies That Work

While getting sculpted calves or going strictly paleo might top your friends’ yearly resolutions, making better link-building strategies the top of yours can lead to increased traffic, improved relationships and bolstered sales.

The key to finding successful SEO link-building strategies is by creating a plan and following the footsteps of businesses and websites that have seen great success in their SEO link-building tactics. Follow the guidelines that Google suggests and avoid using any linking strategies that result in fewer followers or decreased credibility. By following these strategies, you’ll be on your way to the best year yet for you, your SEO and your entire company.

Contact BKA Content today to see how our white hat link building services can help you get to the next level in your organic marketing efforts!

Ecommerce has never been more relevant in today’s world. With so much competition for online stores, it is essential that you do what you can to stand out from the crowd. But how do you get the upper hand digitally? The key is through content marketing. Content strategy for ecommerce provides an avenue to gain visibility online, augment your search engine ranking and find ways to increase traffic and conversion rates like never before.

What Is Content Strategy for Ecommerce?

Before you can go too far into creating your ecommerce content strategy, you need to have a strong idea of what content for ecommerce actually is. Many people think of blogging and other written information as content, but that isn’t all that’s included in the package. The definition of content has evolved to include more visual items, including videos, audio and infographics.

Content is no longer just there for the search engine algorithms to find, either. Link building and increasing your organic reach remains important; however, content strategy for ecommerce is also about building authority, increasing the awareness of your brand and engaging with your customers. Ultimately, being a master of ecommerce marketing means providing multiple touchpoints to take potential leads through the buying process to convert them into customers.

 

Types of Ecommerce Content

Over the years, ecommerce content marketing has seen many changes, mainly to keep up with the ever-changing search engine algorithms. Plus, customers shop more with their emotions now than they used to, making customer engagement that much more important. Whether you are starting up a new ecommerce website or looking to re-tool your old one to boost your business, we have eight game-changing types of ecommerce content that you can start using right away. Along with these, we have a few tips that you need to know to create the best website and ecommerce content marketing strategy possible.

A full arsenal of content pieces and media will help you optimize your marketing strategy. Below are some of the best forms of content proven to drive traffic and increase conversion. They work best as part of an integrated content strategy for ecommerce rather than being the sole type of content on your site, so don’t hesitate to use most if not all of them to fuel traffic.

 

1. Lists

You may be familiar with lists. Sites such as Buzzfeed have made a strong business out of developing articles made from lists.

Use lists to catch the attention of readers. People want to know things, and lists offer a way to digest critical information quickly. These lists can be made from anything related to your ecommerce site, which makes lists a valuable part of your content strategy for ecommerce. Some examples of topics for a list might include:

• The top X uses for a product
• The top reasons someone would buy your product
• The kinds of people that need your product
• The top products in a certain category

The reason lists are so powerful is that they are easy to read, engage audiences and have a high share rate. For ecommerce companies selling business-to-consumer (B2C) products, lists can be a great addition to your ecommerce content strategy.

 

2. White Papers / eBooks / Definitive Guides

These three types of content all share a similar goal: demonstrating you as an authority on the subject. These pieces of content are usually long, often between 5,000 to 20,000 words and discuss some specialty in length.

White papers and definitive guides might be best served for business-to-business (B2B) products or more technical gadgetry that would require more than just turning on the power button to figure out how to use. E-books, however, can be used for just about any business for any reason. With e-books you can utilize more creativity to produce simpler, more engaging content that can be both entertaining and informative.

To write this long-form content, you conduct research or compile references on the subject to create a guide or eBook that goes into depth and demonstrates that you know what you are talking about.

Once created, you have an automatic resource that customers can turn to. Incorporating an ebook into your content strategy for ecommerce elevates your standing in your field or industry and helps you reach leads and convert them into customers.

 

3. Comparison Articles for Ecommerce Products

When people are shopping for a specific item, they want to know how the product you’re offering compares to the competition. If your ecommerce store sells multiple brands, create a post that compares certain items among the brands.

It can be done in an impartial way by highlighting the features of each one to allow customers to decide for themselves which to buy. You can even differentiate your targeted audience using these pieces. For instance, if you sell shoes for hiking, trail running and backpacking, you can help a customer decide which one they should get based on the activities they like to do and how each specific shoe helps with that activity.

This type of content fits right into your ecommerce content marketing plan because people are looking for honest reviews/comparisons. They want to be sure that they are investing in the best product for the price you are offering.

And, if your guide is useful and informative, it’s just another way to gain the trust of visitors. Potential clients are more likely to trust sincere advice that can help them, and these kinds of articles can compel them to do just that. Helpful information and a quality customer service experience can encourage them to buy from you in the future, as well.

 

 

4. Guest Blogging

One of the most powerful ways to help your content strategy for ecommerce succeed is to gain backlinks to your content. Essentially, when people find your content helpful and share it or link to it within their own content posts, Google recognizes that your piece of content is an “authority” in that space. Guest blogging is one of the very best ways to get backlinks for your content without you having to rely on the masses linking to you first.

Guest blogging involves writing guest blog posts that other sites will let you publish on their site. So instead of posting on your own site, you write a post for free for someone else to publish. Typically, in return for the free content, those sites will allow you a link back to your main site, or better yet, to an actual piece of content you’ve written about a specific product.

Getting Started With Guest Blogging

When it comes to guest blogging there is etiquette and rules that typically have to be followed, usually set up by the site you’re posting on.

You’ll need to create relationships with other site owners and create content that is helpful to their reader base in order to make this work. It can be a bit of a long play, but when it works it can give your content strategy for ecommerce a huge boost.

One word of warning: ignore article directories that let you post content for free without any guidelines whatsoever. Google algorithmic changes have targeted practices like these and will penalize those sites trying to utilize them. Instead, find high-ranking sites associated with your vertical and develop well-written blogs to post on that site. As you build your authority, you may also be able to post on some of the more popular and authoritative sites in your niche.

 

5. Ecommerce Infographics

Infographics have become extremely popular forms of content. They catch the eye of your readers quickly, making them easy to share on social media and quick to read. However, it is essential that you develop strong, well-thought-out infographics that have information of value to your customers that they cannot find elsewhere.

There are two main lines of thinking when it comes to creating ecommerce infographics:

1. Create more in-depth, data-driven infographics that extend beyond a page or more. In this instance, the infographic IS the content, so no need for supplementary written content
2. Create a smaller infographic that focuses on just a few key points, rather than a combination of so many facts they become too busy and overwhelming. This can be used in tandem with a written article and is one shareable portion of it.

Here is an example of the latter group:

Adding this type of content creates variety within your article, making it easier and more interesting to read. Add this to get an edge over your competitors.

Creating Engaging Infographics

As you incorporate infographics into your content strategy for ecommerce, enlist the help of great designers or software to make sure your images really pop. You want them to look professional. Infographics won’t do much for your strategy unless they look attractive and can be easily understood.

Don’t know what to include in your infographics? Start by learning what your customers are looking for. What information to they need? Use data you have gathered yourself or look for other sources that are not well known. Feel free to use other sources as long as you link back to them. The main goal is to offer information that will directly help and educate readers.

 

 

6. How To / Product Buying Guides

Another type of ecommerce content that consumers find extremely beneficial are guides for the consumer. These guides are written specifically with the consumer in mind, unlike definitive guides that are written to demonstrate your authority.

These how-to/buying guides point out step by step how to do something or educate a person on a certain item to help make their buying decision that much easier. They are typically easy to understand and written with simple, concise text. Add pictures or videos to mix up content and provide a user-friendly experience.

The other great thing about this type of content is that it scales with the number of products you have. This is a great well to draw from when planning out your ecommerce content strategy.

 

7. Product Reviews

Another beneficial type of content for an ecommerce website is reviews. You can create impartial reviews for your products in the form of blogs and/or you can ask users to submit their own reviews.

When customers shop for your products, they can use the reviews to help them determine which item is the best to buy. This is often the deciding factor for hesitant shoppers. If they see high ratings and descriptive reviews, they are more likely to trust your brand.

 

One key ecommerce content strategy is just to find automated ways to constantly ask customers for reviews. Some companies offer a reward for honest reviews from customers. If you have great products, they’ll speak for themselves. And the more reviews you have, the more you’ll be trusted by new customers.

 

8. Videos

Video content has become extremely popular when it comes to content strategy for ecommerce. There are many types of videos you can make. Some of these ecommerce video ideas include:

• Product videos
• How-to Videos
• Buying Guides
• Comparison Videos
• Webinars

Product videos are especially popular across social media platforms and websites. They give you a chance to show off your products and help people in the decision-making process. Studies have found that shoppers who view videos are nearly 2 times more likely to buy an item than shoppers who don’t. It is also possible to use videos for your how-to or buying guides.

Some companies use videos for webinars, which can be used to teach consumers or other businesses in your industry about certain areas of your business/industry. Also, any piece of written content you create can usually be turned into some form of visual content that can be promoted alongside it as a complementary piece. That way, you’re casting a wider marketing net to catch people who prefer the written word as well as those that prefer a visual introduction.

 

 

Developing Your Content Strategy for Ecommerce

Now that you know the types of content you can use, it’s time to make a plan of action. The types of ecommerce content listed above are only tools to use, while your ecommerce content marketing strategy is where you determine how you will put it all together. To really master the practice, you have to know the best ways for distributing and promoting your content, where to post it and how to integrate the different types to work in sync to increase their impact.

 

Create Goals

The first step is making measurable goals. Without goals, it’s hard to track your progress or move forward effectively. Good goals include some of the following:

• Driving traffic
• Increasing leads
• Raising your conversion rates
• Developing customer engagement
• Raising brand awareness
• Increasing sales

You may have a few different goals, but it is best to prioritize your goals and concentrate on just a few at first. Find what is currently most important to your content strategy for ecommerce, and work towards that. As you do, you’ll recognize that your efforts can positively affect the overall success of your business.

Certain content types work best with different goals. For example, product videos, how-to guides and reviews help with conversion, while comparisons, lists and guest blogging work better at increasing traffic.

 

Understand Your Target Audience

In addition to your goals, you need to understand your target audience. This involves some market research to help you discover the demographics and behavior patterns of your ideal client.

With this information, create one or more models of your typical buyer to help you develop content that matches their wants and needs. If you want to make an impact on your target market, you have to know them and what they need. You need to show that your products can help their lives specifically.

You also want to consider the buyer’s journey to see where you can have touchpoints to funnel them through to conversion. The buying process should be as simple and user-friendly as possible.

 

Distribute and Promote

The first places to look to post your ecommerce content are the channels that you own, including your website, social media sites, blog, email list and any other digital marketing channel. To get the most out of these channels, make sure that your content is share-friendly. This means that you use visuals, which increase sharing, as well as optimize it so that it is mobile-friendly and easy to share on all social media sites.

Visuals are an important component for any content strategy for ecommerce, as content with images has 94 percent more views than those that don’t. You’ll also want to include the basic SEO necessities, including headings, meta tags, hyperlinks and anchor text. In addition to your own channels, there are other channels that can help you distribute your content, including paid channels and influence blogs.

 

Create an Editorial Calendar

Your ecommerce content strategy should also have a detailed editorial calendar, including a rotation of content types to keep it fresh. This will keep you on track as you start pushing out content. Remember: consistency is your best friend. If you want your content strategy to work, posts have to be regular and good quality.

You also want to determine upfront where certain content will be posted and how you plan to share it. Within your strategy, you should also have ideas on how to repurpose your content for greater impact, as well as how you plan to optimize the content for greater reach. Keep an eye on data and how certain posts generate more traffic than others.

Lastly, create milestones for analyzing and deciding when a piece of content needs to be looked at and updated, reworked or completely redone.

 

 

Put Your Ecommerce Content Strategy Into Action!

So, in summary, mastering ecommerce content marketing starts with knowing exactly what content is and then developing a strategy based on your goals and target audience. Once you have your initial strategy, however, you are not done. Next comes the actual content creation piece. You either need to write and create the ecommerce content yourself, or you need to team up with an ecommerce writing service or creative agency to help you produce the material to promote.

Lastly, you need to continually check in to see if your content strategy for ecommerce needs to be tweaked to keep up with the ever-evolving nature of digital marketing. As you do this, you can consistently refine your ecommerce content marketing plan to see the major benefits that come from online marketing done right.

Do you feel that keywords are passé, having landed in a grave years ago when Google decided to stop primarily using them for ranking? The latest algorithms from Google focus on topics to find relevancy rather than words. The way people search also reflects an emphasis on topics (or queries) rather than matching words. This has led to many marketers saying goodbye to keyword research. However, researching keywords and keyword phrases remains just as important as it did back when SEO first started to become mainstream.

 

What is SEO Keyword Research?

Keyword research is about much more than simply finding words to sprinkle throughout your content for increased rankings, which is how keywords were traditionally used. Putting in the time and effort remains an important component of your digital marketing campaigns, especially your SEO strategy. SEO keyword research today is about combining user search queries with relevant keyword phrases to create a topical structure for your content. Blog posts written in a format that covers all of the relevant questions and topics surrounding the main keyword phrase reinforce to Google that the piece will provide readers with something valuable.

SEO keyword research has become an art form of sorts. It begins with data and research, moves to topic ideation and ends with natural optimization and subtle reinforcement. These components have to be weaved together in a way that appeals to both reader and search engine without one taking precedence over the other.

 

Things to Consider When Conducting Keyword Research

Because of all that keyword phrases need to accomplish in today’s SEO landscape, it can be easy to get a little lost when learning how to find appropriate user queries to focus new content around. Here are some of the main things to master when getting started on your SEO keyword research.

 

Understanding Relevancy of Keywords/Topics

Relevancy is an essential component of content marketing for many reasons, especially as it is one area that Google uses to match pages to searches. Using keyword research provides you with a larger understanding of all the relevant terms associated with a particular topic. For example, if you are writing about cars, you also want to include relevant terms such as vehicle, automobiles and auto. Simply including a diverse array of relevant terms increases the ranking of your page. Furthermore, incorporating a variety of relevant terms enhances the content and boosts your rankings by demonstrating your page has a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.

When performing keyword research, it’s a best practice to focus on a primary phrase for the overall structure of the post. That being said, it’s important to have 4-5 other related keyword phrases that help expand upon the ideas in that primary phrase you’ve selected. For instance, if the primary keyword you’ve decided to focus your blog on is “How to take great pictures”, you might consider secondary keyword phrases along the lines of “When to take pictures”, or “what camera to use to take pictures”, as well as interchange the word “pictures” with “photos” or “images” to cast the widest-reaching net of keyword phrases in your piece.

 

Learning the Nuances of Your Topics

No matter the nature of your business, the topics about which you write are multi-faceted. It is difficult at times to fully comprehend all sides of your business and adequately include those in your SEO strategy. Working with keyword research provides you an opportunity to learn more about all of the niches and nuances within your business, including those you might not immediately realize. Then, you can include this in your content by writing about more diverse topics, which provide even more ways to be found by potential customers.

Half the battle of content writing is just coming up with a topic in the first place. The better you understand your industry, the easier it will be to spot the holes in great informational content. While one strategy for SEO keyword research is to just take the top-performing words and make better content than everyone else that focuses on that phrase, another great avenue to take is to find keyword phrases with less competition and be the first to make original, great content about it.

 

Discovering Opportunities for Targeting Traffic

Not only does keyword research help you remain relevant and discover additional nuances of your topic, it also helps you to find better opportunities for targeting traffic on your site. You can also find keywords and phrases that have the highest-volume for traffic. Often, these are highly lucrative keywords but also highly competitive and potentially expensive.

As was mention above, you can also find terms that have less competition that might provide additional ways to find traffic. By performing adequate research, you have the information you need to create a strategic SEO strategy that intelligently uses your budget to attract the traffic you want with a combination of high-volume and low-volume terms.

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to SEO keyword research strategy, so coming up with a custom plan that best suits your business and it’s current placement in the industry you’re in is the best way to go.

 

Knowing the Language of Your Customers

No matter how brilliant your content or how much of an expert you are in your industry lingo, if it does not match the language of your customers, you will find that your pages do not rank well. Although you might feel that you have a strong sense of the language of your customers, keyword research provides invaluable insight that you cannot always get simply by interacting with your customers or performing market research.

It includes ways that potential customers think about your products and services and the language they use to search for your products. Including this language alongside the industry lingo increases the number of people who find your information and see it as relevant, which in turn improves your organic traffic and your SEO rankings.

Companies often make the mistake of labeling a product or service a certain way and assuming that everyone refers to it the same way. On the other hand, some things may be labeled correctly but have multiple meanings. Our own company name, BKA is a great example. If you searched for “What is BKA” on Google, you’d find a lot of information about a below-the-knee amputation procedure. However, if someone searches “What is BKA Content” they’d find information about our company.

When performing SEO keyword research, always be aware of language and how user intent changes based on the words in the keyword phrase.

 

Matching Landing Pages and Other Navigational Information

When you create your website, it is important that you make it easy to navigate. If customers find it confusing, they will quickly bounce. Learning more about keywords helps you to create a navigation that matches the language and needs of your customers. For one, the keywords provide recognizable language in which to use as your menu buttons and other navigational tools. As discussed above, there might be a disconnect between the industry language and that of the customers. Using the laymen’s terms in your navigational tools ensures customers know where to go.

Additionally, keyword research also helps you to create more relevant landing pages. Landing pages are an essential component of any successful SEO strategy because they direct customers to the actions you want them to perform. They need to be relevant to the keywords so that there is no disconnect when the customers arrive. Learning more about how the competition and customers use keywords and understand them enhances your ability to create dynamite landing pages.

One great way to showcase this point is to look at how one keyword phrase may be better suited for a landing page vs another keyword phrase that’s better suited for an informational blog. For instance, any keyword that has a question attached like “how to”, “what is”, “when should”, or “Why”, would be better suited for an information blog post that can fully answer their question. Any keyword that is specifically about a product or service would be better suited for a landing page that shows them the product or service and how you can help them.

People want relevant answers to their queries and don’t want to be jerked around by having to navigate through multiple pages. When conducting your SEO keyword research keep that in mind when picking keywords and the associated content types that you’ll use to try and win that keyword.

 

Getting Inside the Searcher’s Head

To increase traffic to your site, it is important to find ways to target all potential customers. Knowing what goes on in people’s heads helps you to create content that matches all stages of the sales process from contemplation to purchasing. As was mentioned above, it is important to understand what phrases match different parts of the stages so that you create content that is relevant to the customers in their present position.

To take it a step further, think deeper about search intent and put yourself into the shoes of your potential customers. If the people searching are simply interested and looking for research, they will want to find information that provides answers to their questions. If they already own something and are looking to solve an issue, then they will search for troubleshooting content. Taking some time to see what pages rank highest for certain keywords and phrases provides insight into the headspace of customers when they use these words so that you can create content that matches it.

 

Discovering Products and Services for the Future

When you research associated keywords in your business, you might also discover products and services you can add to your business to grow and expand. You might not have the ability to expand and grow your business at the moment, but it is beneficial to continually see ways that you could expand in the future rather than only looking into today’s potential business.

For example, if you provide massage therapy services, you might find that many people who search for it also search for facials, acupuncture and other complementary services. Using this information, you might decide to work towards adding facials and acupuncture services to your massage clinic in the future to bring in additional customers.

 

Researching Your Competition

Using tools for SEO keyword research also helps you to have a better understanding of what your competition is doing. The Google Keyword Tool has a component where you can enter a website, including that of your competition. This search provides you with a list of keyword and phrase matches, as well as the search volumes for the keywords. Then, you can determine whether or not to use the same information on your content or focus on other areas based on what your competition is doing.

This might also help you find information that expands your SEO strategy, especially if you do not have a large marketing budget and wish to target areas that are under targeted. Sometimes going after your competitors’ keywords allows you to kill two birds with one stone. You can go after keywords that appeal to your target market while also gaining an advantage over competitors vying for the same keywords.

 

Creating Better Content That Owns the Topic

Search engine rankings rely heavily on strong content. It is important to create relevant content that fully includes the nuances and niches of your business, which you now know after researching for keywords. It also needs to match your customers’ expectations for the results from their searches, which you also have a firm understanding of after you have explored keyword research and learned more about how customers use different languages. Additionally, content should be diverse while relevant, full of depth while remaining current.

When you have a complete understanding of all the different words associated with your topic, you will fully own it and create the best content possible.  Keyword research opens up so many new areas of topics on which you can write so that you do not end up continually rehashing the same content over and over again on your blog or other mediums. You can also use them to improve any existing content by adding in some additional language and keyword phrases that help with your rankings.

 

Developing Better Metrics

When creating your SEO and digital marketing strategy, it is important to have a strong method of knowing what to expect. This assists you in creating realistic goals and parameters with which to assess the metrics. Researching into keywords provides you with an understanding of the efficacy of the keywords, as well as the competition. This ensures that your expectations remain realistic as you determine how to view the analytics and determine whether or not your efforts are working.

Also, by tracking the keywords you’re targeting in your content you may be able to identify keyword trends you can capitalize on. For instance, maybe writing about a certain niche product allows you to jump up the rankings quicker than another, more mainstream product. Or even just a certain type of query relating to your products and services seems to provide quicker results. Use your own metrics to help hone in on what keywords are performing better than others and take advantage of it!

 

Boosting Click Through Rates

Speaking of metrics, SEO research into keywords also helps you to improve them. The research you discover leads to creating more relevant pages, connecting better with customers, and developing the best possible content for your digital properties. Using the right keywords improves your traffic by increasing the page rankings. When customers land on relevant landing pages, your bounce rate decreases.

Appropriately using keywords also boosts the number of click-throughs you get from the SERPS. Using keywords correctly in your meta description and title tags does more than just help your rankings. It also matches your customer’s language to increase the chance that they will choose your page from the results page over your competition.

 

SEO Keyword Research: More than Meets the Eye

As you can see, there are many uses for keywords throughout the entire marketing funnel. Because of this, keyword research still plays a vital role in your SEO strategy. Although Google might not search exclusively for keywords anymore, these important phrases still have a major role to play in developing the best SEO strategy to help you reach your business goals.

Need help developing a keyword strategy for your business? Want to see how properly optimized SEO Blog Content can boost your business to the next level? Contact us to find out how we can help!

In the digital age, content marketing is absolutely vital to keeping your business on top of the competition. As customers can search from countless sites to find the products they want, you have to stand out above the rest. You need to be the first thing they see, and have all the information they want. Content marketing allows you to do this with little effort. So what does a content marketer do? If you can master several content marketing skills, you can keep any business at the top of its game.

 

What Does a Content Marketer Do?

Becoming a master content marketer takes time, research and work. Don’t expect it to come overnight, but let your strategy develop organically and naturally. We have a few tips to help you become a master content marketer, and a few skills you need to have in your arsenal to keep your business at the top. With a finely tuned, expert set of skills, you’ll stand out as one of the greatest in content marketing.

 

1. Writes Strong Content

It’s more than just getting the consumer to your site; it’s how they feel once they are there. Do they trust what you are saying because it’s professionally written, accurate and typo-free? Or do you lose credibility when your sites don’t offer what they say they will? Content marketing is about more than just buying content. As the focus trends away from keywords and more toward engaging, informative content, you (as a content marketing manager) have to be able to keep up with the changes.

Writing is about more than just grammar and spelling. Your content should provide useful information to the reader, engage and interest the reader from the beginning, and be packed full of high-value stuff they can’t find anywhere else.

 

2. Tells Stories

While there’s no magical way to do storytelling right, this is one of the most successful ways you have in content marketing to connect your audience to your company or brand. Stories allow your customers to connect with your business on an emotional level, and to see what they have in common with you. Use storytelling to explain why your company was started, what you do to make the world better and how your products and services have helped customers increase their quality of life.

Statistics show that while 57% of marketers believe that storytelling is an essential part of content marketing, most struggle to find effective ways to tell a story. There is no right or wrong way to do it.  Your storytelling as a content marketer should be based around the facets of your company that are most engaging and exciting to your customers. How do you determine what that is? That brings us to our next point.

 

3. Research, Research, Research

Content marketing involves countless hours of research. Every piece of content you create as a content marketing manager and put on your site should have several points of research behind it. Those who want to be effective at content marketing go the extra mile by looking at the following things:

• The pain points and interests of the target market
• The channels that are most effective to distribute to that target audience
• The terminology or keywords that consumers use when looking for your product
• The search questions consumers use to find solutions and answers
• The discussion threads and social groups where your audience is discussing their interests and concerns
• The applicable demographics, audience segments and psychographics
• The trends in your industry and in marketing in general
• The content formats that offer the most reach and engagement to your audience

Research isn’t a one-time thing, and those who want to be an effective content marketer will stay on top of current research and trends at all times.

 

4. Correctly Reads and Analyzes Marketing Data

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to learn how to apply those numbers to make a blog more successful. Now that you know how to tell a story and what your readers want to know, you have to determine what to do with that story as a content marketer. It’s impossible to cover every single metric, so you must determine which metrics are important for your business to ensure that your content is performing well and you are meeting your goals.

Reading data gives you insight into which topics aren’t performing well and which you want to use to re-purpose and recycle to bring more traffic to your site.

 

5. Has Exceptional Organization and Strategy

Research shows that while companies with a solid, documented content strategy are 36% more likely to be successful during a particular campaign, over two-thirds lack in an organized, strategic plan for content marketing. If you want to run a successful content marketing campaign, you must have a strategic plan involving the following things:

• Defined goals
• Tracking of all research
• Content plan
• Recorded progress of each step of your plan
• Effective, consistent deployment through organization

Successful content marketers often use a content strategy combined with a detailed editorial calendar to plan the year in advance and know exactly what they want to do and the best time to do it.

 

6. Isn’t Afraid to Shake it up

Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket. While you can produce SEO articles all day long, successful content marketers provide a more versatile approach for their clients. Use more than one form of content to attract your target customers. Successful marketers recognize that every member of the audience is unique and prefers a different type of content to digest. Customers want podcasts, videos, infographics, case studies, articles and whitepapers to get their information.

They rely on you for new insight, and they want you to give it to them in the ways they best understand it. This means creating a versatile content marketing strategy that includes a little bit of everything to ensure that you hit every member of your audience.

 

7. Has Developed Design Skills

You always have the option to hire out your design projects, but these cost money and you want to save cash wherever you can. If you want to be a successful content marketer, work on your own design skills to give you more independence when it comes to creating your strategy. If your content goes live quickly with compelling stories and pictures to make it popular, then you’ve done your job. If you have to wait on your designer to get back to you, you may miss the boat on a trending topic.

Even a basic skillset of design tools like inline graphics or attention-grabbing images can make a huge difference in your ability as a content marketing manager to quickly and effectively use content for marketing purposes.

 

8. Distributes and Promotes Content Effectively

It’s not enough to post content and promote it in one area and leave the rest to organic traffic. Great content marketers use every outlet available to promote new content. Always promote your content through multiple channels including YouTube, audio and video podcasts and social media outlets. Give your target base more opportunities to find your content.

Your content can also be shared to your subscribers through emails or through influencers and contacts that you know. There is also the option to share it through some social media channels, ensuring that it will reach as many customers as possible.

 

9. Watches Trending Topics

Industry trends are constantly changing, and it’s important that you stay on top of those and focus your content around the things your audience is currently interested in. Perhaps as important as that is reaching out through other trending topics to catch your audience’s attention. Good content marketers focus on all trending topics and are constantly looking for ways to apply them to their own strategy and business.

Using trending topics ensures that you are in front of a specific audience discussing a topic they want to talk about. Some trends will remain completely irrelevant, while others are correlated enough to your business that you can reach a much larger market and audience than you are currently hitting with your strategy. Pay attention to what people care about, as shown in trending topics, and see how many people you can reach quickly.

 

10. Collaborates and Listens

Even the best content marketer in the business can’t do it on their own. You create a more versatile, engaging campaign when you seek the input and advice of others. One of the best things you can do as a content marketer is to seek assistance and collaborate with an influencer in your industry, and you’ve found a way to quickly expand your audience.

Even if you don’t have the connections or network yet, it’s never too early to start tossing out ideas. Mutually beneficial collaborations can benefit both parties, and they all start with one content marketer asking for help. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your network to collaborate on ideas or projects.

 

On Your Way to Becoming a Content Marketer

So what does a content marketer do? A whole lot, actually. This is just the beginning of the list of skills and habits a master content marketer has, and it’s a great place to start honing and developing your skills, knowledge and talents. These content marketing tips can put you well on your way to becoming a master content marketer whose services are sought after. Provide engaging content in strategic ways and watch your content marketing campaigns take off.

To run a successful business, you need to develop a pipeline to attract consistent (or better yet, growing) sales. For many businesses, this means generating enough high-quality leads to keep the sales team busy and the conversion rates up. But with so many new companies popping up on the internet, how do you find more potential clients? The answer is simple: Use content marketing to generate leads.

Effective content marketing takes a lot of work and strategy. For companies wanting to make a difference online, publishing content is necessary and can’t be overlooked. Learning how to generate leads by developing and executing an effective content marketing strategy is a powerful way to increase your leads and sales.

Not sure how to generate leads with content marketing? We’ll share some of the ways content marketing actually helps businesses with sales and some of today’s best practices for increasing lead generation.

 

How Content Marketing Can Help You Generate Leads

Many businesses struggle with lead generation. Your sales team is likely capable of consistently converting a certain percentage of qualified leads. However, getting enough good leads to them while minimizing the low-quality ones can require a well-developed pipeline. Content marketing can be a cornerstone of that pipeline.

Digital content is gaining popularity because 77% of adults in the U.S. are online at least daily, according to the Pew Research Center. Furthermore, 28% are almost constantly online and 45% are online several times per day.

The secret to the effectiveness of content writing is that you can offer something of value to your audience for free. It is unlike almost any other type of marketing. Whereas an ad, website, video or any other form of marketing is simply promoting your brand, content is engaging potential leads with information that they want. Therefore, because there are no strings attached, potential customers are much more likely to trust your content. And as any company knows, more trust can lead to more sales.

You can generate leads with content marketing by simply trading your valuable information in exchange for contact information. If your content strategy is well-targeted, a large percentage of the leads generated will be likely customers.

 

Top 5 Content Marketing Strategies For Lead Generation

The key to effectively generating leads through content marketing is to have a good lead capture setup. This looks a little different for every business. For example, techniques that work for a consumer electronics brand may not translate well for an industrial hardware business. Nonetheless, if you focus on delivering value through your content, you can use it to effectively generate leads.

There is a wide range of lead generation strategies that you can customize to fit the needs of your brand.  Combine quality writing with these strategies for some killer content that catches the eyes of potential consumers. Wondering which content marketing methods are so useful? Here are five effective lead capture techniques that you can incorporate or ask your content writing agency to do for you.

 

1. Use Strong Calls to Action

The simplest form of lead capture through content writing is to have strong calls to action at the end of your content pieces. A CTA is a prompt at the end of some content asking the person reading to do something.

If your content is intended to generate leads, you could ask your reader to complete a form. This form could provide information to your sales team to contact the person with additional information. Similarly, you could provide contact information to have interested potential buyers contact your team. Writers from the content writing agency you work with can easily incorporate these types of calls to action to instantly increase the lead generation power of your content.

Depending on the strength of your content, you don’t necessarily need anything complicated to convert readers to leads. If your readers are highly interested, they will be ready to convert with minimal effort.

 

2. Downloadable White Papers

Another option for generating leads is to exchange contact details for more information. A great way to achieve this is by offering a downloadable white paper or datasheet that is unlockable through a form completion.

For this strategy to be effective, you need the downloadable content to be genuinely enticing. It can be helpful to have professional writers produce the white paper based on data from your team. If the paper isn’t interesting and well-presented, it will be hard to generate leads.

This technique typically works best for products and services for which the buying decision is highly data-driven. For example, if you are supplying enterprise software, a white paper about relevant innovations in the industry could be valuable. However, if you are selling dog beds, it will be a less effective strategy (although a downloadable guide to preparing for your first puppy may be effective). The key is creating something that is relevant and useful.

 

3. Webinars and Other Events

You can offer free access to webinars or similar events in exchange for form completions. Getting people to sign up for webinars is a lot like getting them to download a whitepaper. You need to provide valuable information in a professional format for it to be worthwhile to your audience.

When done properly, webinars can be very impactful. A survey by ReadyTalk indicates that about half of respondents converted between 20% and 40% of their webinar participants into qualified leads. That is an impressive rate and ranks webinars as the top form of content for generating qualified leads.

Other types of events may work a little differently. For example, you could have a professional networking event. In this case, the most important element is getting a crowd of relevant people. Whatever your event is, if it is enticing and valuable for your audience, you will generate leads.

Of course, you’ll need some persuasive writing to help potential leads become interested in a webinar or similar event. Generate leads with content marketing by writing a series of blog posts and social media snippets that support and explain the event. You may also want to a little digital advertising as well to boost customer reach for a large event.

 

4. Promotional Offers

Another way to generate leads with content marketing is to provide promotional discounts to people who provide their contact information. This could be a one-time discount, or it could be signing up for regular emailed promotions.

This will produce two very valuable types of leads. The first discount connects with people who are close to making a buying decision. They are looking for a deal and may become long-term customers if they have positive buying experiences. The second is for previous customers who are thinking about coming back. Working with them can help you to develop a strong base of repeat clients.

Formulate a few sentences that describe exactly what the discount is and be sure to advertise it on your social media platforms. Including discounts is just another way to convince interested leads to convert.

 

5. Content Newsletter

Finally, you can ask your audience to sign up for a content newsletter. This may be industry news or other relevant information for your readers. This is doubly effective because you are getting contact information as well as successfully getting the potential customer engaged with your brand for the long term.

Committing to a content newsletter means that you are committing to a large, consistent writing project. Again, consider working with a content writing agency to ensure that both the writing and the presentation of your newsletter is up-to-par. If it is not a well-produced newsletter, you will likely have a high unsubscribe rate. A content writing agency can also help you keep up with deadlines and word counts.

 

Additional Tips for Successful Content Marketing

Content marketing has become a highly popular channel, especially for generating leads. While this validates the efficacy of content writing, it also means that there is a lot of competition for audience attention. Fortunately, you can outperform many content marketers simply by having a thoughtful strategy.

Content writing can be time-intensive and challenging. Whether you produce your content yourself or hire a content writing agency, the following tips will help ensure that your strategy is successful:

• Create for Your Niche: The most important element of an effective strategy is that it should be made for your target audience. This may sound obvious, but a large amount of unfocused and ineffective content is created each year. Consider what people in your niche are interested in and what would be valuable to them. Then inform your content writing agency about the tone, personality and topics you require.
• Focus on Quality Over Quantity: It is better to produce one piece of content per quarter that is effective than weekly content that is ineffective. If your content is low-quality, it won’t attract potential buyers and may even turn some would-be customers off. Evaluate every piece of content created for your brand based on whether it is helping with your goal of generating leads.
• Repurpose Content Across Channels: You can get extra mileage from your best content by repurposing it across different media and channels. For example, if you have an excellent whitepaper, you could turn it into a webinar. If you then record your webinar, you could edit it into a video to share on social media.

 

Go Deeper With Your Lead Generation Content

Getting the fundamentals of each piece of content is great, but don’t forget to go deeper. The way you distribute content, SEO strategies and original writing can make your content even more effective:

• Have a Consistent Schedule: Consistency can go a long way for your content marketing strategy. The goal is to generate leads to keep your pipeline full. Without a systematic plan, you could end up with a boom and bust cycle, which is going to leave your sales team alternating between being overwhelmed and scrounging for leads. Release content on a regular schedule and keep the leads coming in smoothly. Many content writing agencies use deadlines and can create a steady output of content for you to use.
• Target Keywords Carefully: Content marketing and search engine optimization should go hand-in-hand. Every article, blog post or whitepaper that you create should have keywords that reflect likely searches by your intended audience. Ultimately, your content writing will be in vain if no one is finding and engaging with it. Have the writers from the content writing agency you use implement these SEO strategies or work with an agency that already does.
• Offer Something Unique: As mentioned above, it is important to offer value to your audience. Whenever possible, you should make sure that whatever you are offering is also unique. Remember, there is a lot of noise on the internet. Getting your signal to break through means you need to have something that your competitors don’t have. This is one of the perks of working with a writing agency; Each writer’s unique perspective adds variety and diversity to the content your produce, as long as they stay consistent with the tone of your brand.

 

Learn How To Generate Leads With Content Marketing

If you’re looking for ways to increase sales, content marketing is the secret ingredient you’ve been missing. Simply direct your content toward potential customers, incorporate a few lead generation techniques and watch the magic happen.

To get the most out of lead generation content, you will likely need to post a lot of engaging content. If you don’t feel equipped with the writing skills or endurance to do so, there are great options available. Consider working with a content writing agency. Specialized teams can formulate blog posts and other types of content that can become lead generation trailblazers for your business.

Here at BKA, we’ll work with your needs and make sure your content looks exactly the way you want it to. Check out our Content Shop and find the content that can best help you generate leads.

 

An effective blog can be a powerful tool in your brand’s marketing mix. It has the potential to help you develop a more robust audience and a larger customer base for your business. Despite this, many business owners and marketing managers are unsure of how to develop a blog content strategy that is successful. Delving into blogging tactics that work will help you get the most from your business blog.

 

Success for Your Blog Is Success for Your Business

Before exploring blog strategies for your business, it is helpful to understand why they are important and what success looks like. Typically, business blogs are centerpieces of those brands’ content marketing strategies. Here are four ways a blog can help your business:

 

1. Establish Brand Authority

There are more entities doing business than ever before. For most brands, simply having a good product or service is not enough to stand out from competitors. Instead, it is important to be seen as an authority in your field. Learning how to develop a blog content strategy is all about building authority through your words. This expertise increases the confidence of potential customers and leads to greater conversion rates.

 

2. Enhance Customer Relationships

Your blog content marketing strategy can help you engage with your audience. A blog gives people a free and accessible way to interact with your brand. They don’t have to be ready to make a purchase to read a blog post. This makes blog content a valuable tool for bringing prospects into your sales funnel.

 

3. Strengthen SEO Strategy

Search engine optimization is a valuable but ever-changing online marketing technique. While the algorithms for Google and other search engines may change, their goal of delivering high-value content to users is unwavering. Learn how to develop a blog content strategy and regularly update your website with new, relevant and engaging content in order to increase traffic.

 

4. Offer Opportunities To Share

Well-written and valuable blog content is ideal for sharing. If your blog content is worth reading, it is likely worth sharing. Make it easy for your audience to share your content with friends and family. Soon, you will start to see a growing audience for your blog and your brand.

In short, blogs can be very valuable. To develop a strategy that will help realize these potential benefits, it is helpful to set some goals.

 

Find Success With Your Blog Content Marketing Strategy

The definition of success for web content varies between organizations. For example, you may have your web content writers focus on brand expertise. You could measure this based on research on your audience’s perceptions of your brand. Alternatively, you may be most interested in growing your audience through sharing. Therefore, your definition of success may involve the number of shares.

As with any other business project, your blog will be most successful when you have effective goals. Consider using a framework such as SMART (specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic and time-bound) to help you create better goals. Regardless of what goals you set, make sure you have some objective you are trying to achieve. This will help you as you learn how to develop a blog content strategy in a way that you can hit the ground running when you hire content writers.

Some relevant key performance indicators for blogs include page views, average time spent on the page, conversion to product pages, product sales and article shares. Of course, there’s a lot more data that you can track and analyze. One of the great things about digital marketing is the immense opportunity for analytics.

How To Develop Blog Strategies That Work

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for blogging. Remember, every business will have unique goals for its blog. Therefore, the strategy needs to be bespoke.

No matter what your goals are, however, there are a few key considerations that you should take into account. Most significantly, you should think about these three considerations:

1. The visitor’s intent
2. Your unique selling points, and
3. How the blog fits into your sales pipeline

With your goals and these three considerations in mind, the path forward to develop your blog content marketing strategy will start to become clearer. Let’s go more in-depth with why these considerations are important.

 

1. Think About the Visitor’s Intent

As you craft your first blog post, the most important question is, “Who will read it?” More specifically, you must understand what your readers are interested in before they even reach the content. This is typically dictated by the search term used by the visitor to find the blog post. There are three main categories of search terms:

• Informational: These searches seek the answer to a question. For example, if your business sells camping supplies, you may be interested in optimizing content to rank for the phrase “what do I need to camp for the first time?”
• Navigational: Searches in this category are trying to find specific resources. Your goal should be to own the navigational results for your brand. If someone looks for “John’s Camping Supplies,” for example, your camping business should be all the top results.
• Transactional: These are searches with an intent to buy. They may be generic or specific to your catalog. For example, the user may look for “John’s Camping Supplies large tent” or “large tent for sale.” Both can be transactional searches.

Understanding a visitor’s intent is important when learning how to develop a blog content strategy that works. You can make a lot of predictions about the audience for your blog based on the key terms used to reach it. For example, to garner results for informational searches, you could target a blog post about tips for beginner campers. For transactional searches, you could make a post detailing your summer camping sale.

 

2. Know and Share Your Unique Selling Points

The internet is a powerful tool. It gives even the smallest brands a way to share their messages on a global scale. Unfortunately, this also means that your brand’s signal needs to break through a lot of noise from direct and indirect competitors.

Before you set your website content writers working, you will need to identify the characteristics that make your brand and products unique. The best tips on how to develop a blog content strategy are about making you different, better and special. You have most likely already explored your USPs (unique selling points) for your broader marketing strategy. Use them to help guide your content creation. For example, if your product is very intuitive, write content targeted to beginners who want an easy way to get started.

Additionally, you can turn your blog content into a USP of its own. Build a value proposition that includes the information and expertise in your blog posts. For example, John’s Camping Supplies may create a series of guides about the best camping sites in the region that include recommendations on equipment for each site and how to use those supplies. The content becomes a USP for the products.

 

3. Integrate Your Content Into Your Sales Pipeline

A web content writer is more than just someone writing blog posts. He or she is also an important part of your sales pipeline. Your business’s blog content marketing strategy presents a valuable opportunity to capture leads and bring them into your funnel. Your calls to action in your blog should be based on the sales funnel stage that the reader is currently in.

Learning how to develop a blog content strategy with the sales funnel in mind can be greatly beneficial. The traditional sales funnel starts with awareness, then research, followed by evaluation until the customer makes a purchase decision. Each stage of the funnel should be targeted with appropriate content. These stages can often be mapped to search intents.

Consumers at the awareness stage may be interested in highly informational content that will help them begin to address a pressing need. Conversely, someone preparing to make a purchase is likely interested in transactional content that will inform a final decision. In the former case, your call to action may encourage readers to learn more about the topic. In the latter case, your call to action may persuade them to purchase a product.

 

Bring It All Together

Once you have considered the above three elements of your blog content marketing strategy, the right approach to blogging should begin to become clearer. Using these insights, you can plan some pieces of content that will work well for your goals. It is helpful to organize these with a consistent schedule. The SEO benefits of blogging are enhanced by regular, high-quality content.

It is also helpful to implement analytics to help track your key performance indicators. Using these KPIs, you can hone in your strategy to better suit the needs of your brand. If you are also tracking your organic search terms, you will have more insight into which blogs are attracting different types of search intent.

Building an effective blog can offer substantial benefits. However, it is not an easy undertaking, especially when first learning how to develop a blog content strategy. There are millions of other brands hoping to attract attention through content marketing. You should consider whether you want to hire content writer services or use an in-house team.

 

Why It’s Valuable To Hire a Content Writer To Develop Your Blog Content Marketing Strategy

Many small business owners want to handle a lot of their marketing efforts themselves. They expect that this will help them save money. However, this raises the question of whether a “jack of all trades” business owner can fully realize the potential of blogging and other forms of marketing.

Content marketing is very effective when done properly. However, it can also be quite time-consuming. A web content writer can spend hours writing each blog post. That isn’t including the necessary time to analyze the data and identify keywords, intents and strategy.

 

Reasons To Hire a Writer

When it comes to knowing how to develop a blog content strategy, it’s important to consider all the possible tools in your belt. Here are a few reasons to hire a content writer:

• They have experience. A web content writer is experienced with creating high-quality blog posts and other content. A professional can use that experience to make your blog content marketing strategy as effective as possible.
• They can be more consistent. Consistency is important in content marketing. A website content writer can keep your content schedule running smoothly.
• They have a more objective view of your business. You love your business. This can be a great thing. However, it may cloud your judgment sometimes. Having a third-party perspective can be valuable.
• They can focus exclusively on your blog. You’re a busy person. Get more from your blog by hiring someone to focus exclusively on that part of your business. You’ll also have more time to focus on other areas.

 

Explore BKA Content’s Services

If you want to hire content writer services for your blog, consider BKA Content. We offer a variety of services, including a monthly subscription plan.

Get in touch with our team to learn how to develop a blog content strategy with our help and publish all kinds of high-quality content for your business.

Do you feel like too much of your content marketing budget is going toward blog articles that don’t seem to be helping your page ranking? If so, your posts might be lacking the high-quality links that search engines are so fond of. But how do you get external websites to pay attention to your blog? Keep reading to find out how to make your content more linkable with basic SEO strategies and rich, well-written blogs.

 

SEO Content Marketing and Attracting Traffic to Your Blog

In the past, SEO and content marketing have been placed at separate ends of the digital playing field, but the truth is they are on the same team. Without SEO, content creators would be casting aimlessly in the dark for keywords and topics. Content marketing, on the other hand, is built around a book of plays that centers on SEO, but as head coach, you have to put them into action.

So how does this affect your website ranking, and what does that have to do with getting links? First, it is crucial that you recruit SEO as a player for your team. Trying to market content that is not optimized is a bad play, and the search engines will bury your posts in no man’s land if you try. Instead, use SEO as a tool to select keywords and optimize your content. This is the first step toward better page rankings and increased traffic.

Unfortunately, some people abuse the parameters of SEO by overusing keywords or working with disreputable link directories. That is where content marketing comes in to take the pass, giving your blog posts the momentum to reach more people. If you rely on a blog writing service for fresh posts, check to make sure that SEO is a foundational part of their content development strategy. In some cases, these companies use outdated techniques to acquire links, and your website could be blacklisted as a result.

With SEO content marketing, however, each post is planned around careful research and delivery to maximize credibility and exposure. As you solidify your online presence with engaging, authoritative content, you can expect to see more links coming in from reputable sites, such as media outlets and local organizations.

 

The Link Building Checklist

Now that you know how SEO and content marketing work together, it’s time to put this knowledge to good use. Here is a basic checklist you can use to make sure your blog features link worthy content that is modeled after current SEO standards.

 

Fact-Based Content

Whether you are writing a blog post that discusses the features of a product or describing the benefits of investing in a service, fact-based content is a must for your website. Even if you are trying to persuade your audience to agree with a certain viewpoint, you’ll need valid arguments to support your position.

 

Optimized SEO Content

Learning how to master SEO might seem overwhelming, but it actually simplifies your life by zeroing in on the things people really want to know. Once you have identified the main keywords in your post, you can also optimize the title tag, meta description and URL to give search engines more information about your content.

 

Long-Form Content

When it comes to blogging, long-form content usually attracts more links than short, generalized posts. In a 2012 study conducted by serpIQ, the highest ranking articles exceeded a minimum length of 2,000 words. These numbers suggest that longer blog posts give you more room to draw logical conclusions based on the research you have conducted. In addition, long-form content provides plenty of opportunities to insert keywords without fear of overuse.

 

Informative Lists

Like long-form content, list posts should be no less than 1,000 words. This allows you to fully develop each item on the list with facts, images and suggestions. If you are working with a common topic, such as SEO tactics or content marketing tips, try incorporating newly released data or case studies to differentiate your list from similar posts.

If you do not see these characteristics in your blog posts, don’t expect to get too many high-quality links. In the end, there are no shortcuts to success, and the only way to draw attention from the right websites is to produce content that deserves to be recognized.

 

Making Valuable Connections

Although stellar content practically sells itself, that doesn’t mean you just sit and wait for links to roll in. You still have to build sustainable connections in order to compete with other businesses. This is where you get to flex your marketing muscles by targeting specific influencers and putting your content center stage.

Some SEO friendly content writing services will handle this kind of outreach for you, but you will still need to reciprocate regularly to continue building links. If you are tracking down prospects on your own, here are three easy techniques to help you connect with influential people in your industry.

 

Leave a Comment

One of the quickest ways to open the lines of communication is to leave a comment on the blog or profile page of a prominent influencer. Start by offering a compliment or pointing out your favorite part of the post to establish common ground, then contribute to the discussion by asking a question or sharing an opinion of your own. This demonstrates respect for the content as well as a desire to explore new avenues of information.

 

Write an Email

Writing an email is also an effective tactic for outreach marketing, and you can personalize each letter to address the needs of the influencer. Like cold calling, email outreach lets influencers know that you have something they want, like submitting a resume for your content. You can even identify any shortcomings you might have noticed and explain how your content could provide a convenient solution to the problem.

 

Collaborate on Content

The last two techniques revolve around new relationships and connections, but sometimes turning to your existing contacts is the best way to tackle outreach. Take a look at the people in your network and try to list them according to their level of expertise. The individuals and companies near the top of your list are the ones you want to link to in your content. Furthermore, influencers in your network are more likely to collaborate with you on future projects, creating more opportunities for high-quality links.

 

Conclusion: Attract Traffic to Your Blog Through Links

In the end, SEO content marketing provides a structure for your blog posts that is guaranteed to earn links. All you have to do is nurture these relationships to encourage future growth, visibility and exposure. Just remember to follow these guidelines with every piece of content you publish and don’t be afraid to connect with fellow marketers based on outreach and communication.

Martin Zwilling, entrepreneur and contributor to Forbes, Huffington Post, Business Insider and other sources, writes about the importance of listening. In an article titled “You Never Learn Anything While You Are Talking” he discusses the tendency of business people to talk and talk and talk about themselves to the point that their audience loses interest and stops listening too. Think about it: when someone talks about themselves and how great they are for too long without engaging you, you lose interest pretty fast, don’t you?

Brands these days often have the same problem when it comes to content development and sharing. Instead of listening, brand tracking and finding out what people really want to hear about, they default to posting what they think is most important.

 

What Issues Do Brands Run Into When Implementing Content Marketing?

If you’re a content creator, you may be tackling your article creation and promotion the wrong way. With the huge amount of content available to people these days, it becomes harder and harder to get that click through, like or retweet. People are simply so overloaded by media that brands find it difficult to engage people with their content.

Too often, the reaction to this is to simply increase posting frequency. After all, posting a blog post 20 times instead of 2 should get 10 times more views, right? While the brute force approach may eventually work, there is a much better way to get people to engage with your content. That method is brand tracking. Doing more social listening and brand tracking can help you get a pulse on your followers, competitors and the industry you are in, which will in turn help you accomplish more engaging content development.

Sorry to break it to you, but brands doing content marketing are already at a disadvantage. People have become so numb to advertising that brands have to fight the reputation of being overly “salesy” before they even start producing content. When brands post content without knowledge of what their audience really wants to hear, this validates the negative stereotype that people have in their heads.

 

What are the Benefits of Brand Tracking?

Brand tracking—researching to find out what your audience is talking about, what they’re saying about you, what your competitors are saying and what’s going on in your industry—helps you get better at content development because your articles are actually based on things that your potential customers care about. Here are four reasons that brand tracking is so vitally important to the future of your content marketing.

 

1. You’ll Learn What Topics You’re Missing Out On

If you don’t use brand tracking to keep tabs on what’s hot and trending in your industry, you could end up missing the chance to write posts about important issues that your customers are interested in. When a new development in any industry comes out, there may be a lack of information or in-depth details on the topic. This is your chance to step in as a content writer and write a post that positions you as a knowledgeable thought leader.

 

2. You’ll Get to Know Your Audience Better

As a good article writer and content marketer, you probably have detailed buyer personas that you use to create blog posts for your audience. This is a great start, but if you haven’t updated those personas in a while, they might not accurately reflect your audience. Even if they are up-to-date and based on hard data, people can be unpredictable. The absolute best way to know what matters to your customers, what topics keep them up at night, what information would convert them from an uninterested individual to a brand advocate or paying customer, is brand tracking.

Monitor your audience’s reactions to your content, including comments, shares, likes, retweets and other metrics to see which of your pieces of content are having the greatest impact. Also, watch what other content they engage with. What makes it effective? Lastly, look at your web traffic to find out which articles not only inspired engagement on social media but also prompted people to click through to your blog to learn more.

 

3. You’ll Get to Know Your Own Brand Better

Most content marketers use social media to promote their content to audiences. For B2B marketers, LinkedIn is the most popular promotion tool at 94% use, according to the Content Marketing Institute. Large percentages of marketers also use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and other platforms. All of these platforms are great places to do your brand tracking.

Conduct manual searches for your company and product names to see what people are saying about you or invest in a social listening tool to get a pulse on how you are perceived in the digital space. You might find, for example, that people are missing a key aspect of how your product works. Maybe they have a misconception about what kind of company you are. Perhaps your image of your own brand doesn’t match what people think about it.

You can use all of this information found through brand tracking to shape your content strategy and help people see you in a different light.

 

4. You’ll Be Able to Get a Leg up on Your Competitors

In addition to getting valuable intelligence about your brand and your customers, brand tracking can help you learn more about your competitors. Watch your competitors and figure out their content strategy. Then, look at what’s working for them and what areas they are falling short in. This can help you in several ways. First, you can find areas that they’re not addressing and swoop in to bring this information to their customers (who will hopefully become yours). Second, you will be able to learn from any mistakes they made. Lastly, you will be able to know how well you are doing relative to them.

All of this information can make you a stronger content marketing force in your industry.

 

Use Surveys for Your Brand Tracking

We’ve just covered how you can use social media and web analytics to track your brand (in addition to what you can find out). One more way to do brand tracking is to conduct surveys.

Survey Monkey recommends asking questions that uncover “brand awareness,” “brand attributes,” “brand usage” and “purchase intent.” Depending on the answers to the survey, you may need to adjust your content strategy to align with the reality of your customer’s expectations.

 

How to Make Brand Tracking Pay Off

Brand tracking involves lots of focused research and can be time-consuming. You can make the most out of your efforts by hiring an article writer or content creator to help write content based on what your research uncovered.

Content development can become a breeze if you are trusting it to a qualified, skilled writer. Some companies shy away from using the services of a content writing company because they don’t want to pay the associated costs. However, research from the Content Marketing Institute shows that companies that designate a larger chunk of their budget to content marketing outperform those who spend a smaller portion on this area. To get results, sometimes you have to spend money strategically. Content creation is one area where your investment will pay off.

 

Brand Tracking Leads to Better Content

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 76% of B2B marketers report that they plan to put out more content each year, compared to 77% of B2C marketers. It’s very important that there is a strategy behind your content if you are one of the marketers planning to up their content output.

You may think you know your customers, your company, your competitors and your market, but you may be missing key details about what makes your content successful. Brand tracking is a great way to get in touch with all these areas and gain a competitive advantage. Use the techniques above to learn more about your audience so you can craft content that hits home with your readers and pushes you far ahead of the competition.

When social media sites first arrived on the scene, many businesses became excited by the chance to directly engage with consumers and quickly jumped on board. Increasing reach on social media was seen as a way to organically get the word out about their business at a minimal expense. However, the complex algorithms the social media sites now use to determine whether or not a fan or follower actually sees posts makes it difficult to achieve organic reach on social media platforms, especially Facebook.

 

Increasing Organic Reach on Social Media Platforms

Studies have found that non-sponsored posts on Facebook have around a 3 percent reach. Every year, it seems to get worse, especially after Facebook debuts newer algorithms to deal with the constant influx of users. The increased competition also has affected organic reach on Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites.

Studies have also found that Twitter, despite beliefs to the contrary, has less than 20 percent organic reach on posts. Recognizing what helps improve your social media reach can help you to increase your numbers.

 

Understand Algorithms That Affect Social Media Reach

Content development starts with understanding the unique complexities of each platform and creating a strategy suited to the platform. This can help you to create posts and content that will enhance, not impede, your organic reach.

For example, the Facebook algorithm is a complex tool that looks at hundreds of thousands of factors when determining whether a post will make it into a particular person’s news feed. There is no way that you can know every single one of those factors, especially as many of them are not public knowledge. Those that you can, and should know, include the following:

• High-quality content gets higher ratings
• Anything considered spam will be limited or removed
• The more engaged users are, the higher rated the post
• Negative feedback from users leads to reduced reach
• Priority is given to videos and photos
• Individual user’s past interaction with the page or post type affects visibility on News Feed

You do not have to be an expert on social media, but having the basic knowledge of how it works is invaluable to the creation of your future posts and expanding your social media reach.

 

Review the Performance of Past Social Media Posts

To create a strong content strategy for increasing organic reach on social media, you first need to understand the performance of past posts. This data tells you the organic impressions versus the paid impressions, as well as how many fans you reached and how many non-fans saw your post. You can also find out other information, including demographics of your fans. It is best to review the trends of your posts over a few weeks or even months.

Although it remains beneficial to implement Facebook, Twitter, and other social media paid campaigns from time to time, it is possible to gain some momentum naturally. Adding one or more of the following 7 ways to increase organic reach on social media to your content strategy moving forward may help you to reach your goals.

1. Develop High Quality Social Media Content

Just as it is important to create high quality content to improve organic search engine results, high quality posts have a greater impact than low-quality ones, especially on Facebook. You want to avoid any posts that could be seen as spam, as will those that receive negative feedback. In general, people respond better to high quality content, so it is also important to have it on other social media sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn.

So what is high quality content? It is content that is more than just barely veiled marketing and advertising copy. This content provides something of real value to your followers. The value could be informative, but it could also simply make your followers feel better such as a humorous post or an uplifting thought. It should be appropriate to the medium, be well written and be the right length. You might need to hire an article writer to ensure you create the best content to get the most social media reach.

2. Create Relevant Social Media Content For Your Target Audience

When developing your high-quality content for your posts, it is essential that you always keep in mind the demographics and behavior of your target audience. These are the people who will be most likely to see your post, like it, and/or share it to spread your organic social media reach. You do not always have to just write posts about your business, but it should remain pertinent to your particular industry and/or area of expertise.

The best content creates a conversation with your fans so that they comment, share, and like your posts. You can also directly engage with them through question and answer sessions, polls and more.

3. Use More Images in Social Media Posts

Adding images and other media to your posts greatly helps with your organic reach on social media. People are attracted to visuals more than text, so it increases the chance of users seeing the post. Additionally, Facebook sees images and videos as top priority, so these posts have a higher rating than text-only posts, improving your rating already. Twitter may not have the same algorithm, but photos and other media still improves the likelihood of followers seeing your posts.

4. Change Your Social Media Content

Another way to help improve your organic reach on social media is to change up your posts. If you always post the same sort of information, your audience will quickly tire of it, reducing engagement. To help you do this, create a content development strategy that follows a certain plan that includes a variety of post types. For example, you could have a strategy that includes a cycle of posting a pitch of some type, personal development posts, a link to a blog, something that directly engages users, information about data or research in your field, and then something fun such as relevant memes, videos or songs that your followers may like.

Remember, though, that these posts should remain true to your brand in order to increase the kind of social reach you’re going for.

5. Include Hashtags and Influencers

Another way to help your organic social media reach is to include hashtags or reference influencers in your field or an associated one. This helps more with Twitter and Instagram, but it can still have an effect on your Facebook reach. Hashtags allow people to search for certain topics, which increases the chance someone will see your post who does not follow you. By posting at or referencing to an influencer, you increase the chance they may re-post it and even more people see the post. 

6. Include a Call to Action

When you post on social media, you should include a call to action. However, this does not need to simply ask fans to like or share the post, or even click a link. In fact, blatantly asking for likes and shares can hurt your rating. Instead, ask questions that subtly request your followers to take action. For example, you can ask “do you agree”, “who’s excited” or other open ended questions, and your fans can answer by sharing, liking, or commenting.

7. Post at the Right Time

Timing can be critical in increasing your organic reach on social media sites. Contrary to what you might think, it may be better to post at non-peak times. This reduces the number of competing posts trying to enter your follower’s feed, especially on Facebook. Timing is an essential component to your organic reach on Twitter, since it displays content in chronological order. If the majority of your users look at Twitter in the evening but you have posted in the morning, then only those who tirelessly go through all the posts or make a point to look at your feed will see the post.

You may have to experiment to find the best time for your company to post in order to increase social media reach, as it is largely based on when your followers are actually active on the site.

 

Social Media Reach Can Be Increased!

Increasing your organic reach on social media takes some strategy, but it mostly focuses on creating great content that your users want to share. You and your content creator can find ways to improve your posts and increase engagement with your current followers, which will help you have higher ratings and a broader social media reach.

Your blog can have the most interesting, useful information, but if it doesn’t get shared, it’s not doing your company any good. While you may get a certain sense of pride out of having your content shared, there’s more to it than that.

You need to learn how to make shareable content because shared content can actually help your business and give you an idea if your strategy is working or not. At that point, you can determine where you need to adjust your blog writing and topics to determine how to better reel customers in and keep them.

 

How To Make Shareable Content

Unfortunately, most content is shared three times or less. This does not bode well for your marketing plan or your conversion rates. So how can you create content that is SEO-friendly and helps you build a name for your company and your brand? We have six questions to ask yourself about your SEO content marketing that will help you increase your shares on every piece of content.

 

1. What Is the Content’s Worth?

If you’re publishing uninteresting, worthless content, how can you expect it to be shared? The most important rule in SEO content marketing is to create content that is worthwhile, interesting and full of information. That leads customers and other companies to share it with their friends on social media.

No one is going to share content that is irrelevant or weak. Quality content is a part of how to make shareable content. The more you publish weak content, the more you train your followers to completely ignore you. If you must, publish your content less often to ensure that it is up to par.

But how do you determine if the content is high-quality or not?

 

How To Create Quality Content

Although “quality” can be defined in many ways, there are a few factors that indicate content of any topic to be of high caliber:

• Originality. Google’s algorithm works in a way that eliminates duplicate or plagiarized content to rank highly. Anything written should be completely original, including topics, which is why many people go to freelance copywriting services to get good quality that stays original. Fresh perspectives can help you find topics not yet discussed while getting an original voice.
• Search Engine Optimization: If you are looking for how to make shareable content, you’ll want to make it easily findable on Google. This requires some SEO tactics. Incorporate keywords, use headings and bullet points and don’t neglect metadata. Try to keep your content focused on a single topic to help with consistency and the overall quality of content. This also improves your Google search rankings.
• Reliable Data: To improve the quality of content, be sure to include data and research within your content. If the research was not done by you, always include a link to the original source. However, be careful where you get your data from. Bad links can be very harmful to any kind of content, no matter how well-written it may be.

Yes, there is much you can do to increase the quality. But the point is this: you need to spend time and effort to create quality content. Creating basic content or paying for low-priced (which is ultimately low-grade) content will rarely get to shareable status.

 

2. Who Are You Asking?

It may be so simple that most people don’t think of it, but are you asking others to share your content? Many are surprised at how easy it is to get more shares when they have other marketers, friends and businesses promoting their content. While 50 percent of content gets shared less than eight times, you can beat this number just by asking a few people to share.

Of course, you don’t want to spam followers. Asking for shares can be done tactfully because it IS part of how to make shareable content. A great way to encourage followers to share is to have social media share buttons readily available on your blog. If you don’t have any widgets to help readers easily connect to their social media platforms, you’ll get even fewer shares. We’ll talk more about that later.

Graph by buzzsumo.com

 

3. How Are You Catching Their Attention?

Boring headlines cause a fast death for any piece of content. The best way to catch a reader’s attention is with an exciting, catchy headline that reels them in. Even the most basic how-to or tips list can be funny, entertaining and shareable with the right headline. When facing 15 articles with the same content, readers will often choose the one with the best headline. The reality is that even if your content is shared, it may not be read by most people, but just the headline can reel them in and entertain them enough to make them want to pass it on.

When coming up with a headline, write down a few versions and decide which one pops out the most. Keep in mind that lists and how-to guides are enticing to many readers.

 

4. Who Are You Mentioning in Your Content?

Name dropping is an age-old marketing tip and can also be when learning how to make shareable content. Referred to as influencer marketing, you can promote your company with the help of established people in your industry. Mention authority figures by name in your content to give it more credibility. You also look smarter when you quote and rely on experts for your information.

Of course, whenever you quote or mention other companies and influencers, include a link back to them. They will likely appreciate the outbound links, and it helps readers go to the source if they want to know more. The more experts you use as your foundation for your content, the more your credibility will increase within the industry.

 

5. Are You Using Pictures?

A picture can tell a thousand words and can often be the reason why a reader clicks on your post. If you’re publishing pieces of content without pictures, you may want to step back and see if this is a big part of making shareable content that you are missing.

There are two ways images can be used in content: As a companion to a great title and within the content itself. Having at least one image to support your title is a great way to make your content shareable on social media. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter easily display the picture along with a link, and these may help readers feel inclined to click on the article. Social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest put a lot of weight on pictures, and they are vital to your success on these accounts.

But there is more than just getting a good hook for readers. Blog images help readers get through your article. Sometimes, too many words or paragraphs can make it hard to focus. Having images that go with the content every 100-200 words is a great benefit for readers, and increases the value of your article. If it was easy to read and was aesthetic, readers are much more likely to share it with their friends.

 

Make It Easy For Viewers To Share

It makes sense. Your target audience wants to save face, so they won’t share something that might seem tedious (unless your words are just so amazing… and in that case, why not have pictures to compliment them?) with their friends and family. Save them the embarrassment and provide content that is full of visuals. You may need to experiment with a variety of images to see which ones make a difference on how to make shareable content.

There is also another advantage to marketing your content with an image. You can completely convert your content into an infographic or standalone piece that summarizes the basic ideas in your blog or article. Simplify your post into five steps or tips, turn them into an image and allow them to stand alone to be shared. Readers are much more likely to look closely at an attractive photo than a wordy blog post.

 

6. What Plugins Are You Using?

Blogs can benefit the most from social sharing plugins, but every page of your site should have social sharing buttons to make it easy for readers to share to every platform. If a reader enjoys a piece of content but has to go through the hassle of copying, pasting and moving from platform to platform, they may opt out of sharing your content with all their friends, even though it may be valuable information for them.

Widgets can be easily installed on your webpages, and they are the secret to sharing content in this day and age. Make it easy for readers to share, and they might be persuaded to do it.

 

SEO Friendly Content Writing Services Are Vital

It used to be all about keywords, but in today’s world, you need content that is interesting, relatable and shareable in order to promote your site and brand. This turns into more visitors to your site, more exposure for your products and more revenue for your company. Creating shareable content is one of the most important ways to gain loyal followers of your brand.

These six questions can help you learn how to make shareable content. Have you had experience with increasing shareability? Share your expertise in the comments!