Content Marketing: The Best Method To Being Found Online?

In an online world that is dominated by content, having a content strategy that is underpinned by the overall business goals can be what separates you from your competitors online. Over the last few years, Google has focused their energy on providing search results that are useful, relevant and engaging.

As a result, search algorithms are now favouring websites that have a reputation for satisfying user search intent, rather than just being structured well and having the right keywords. Businesses today invest a lot more time and resources in content to build a bigger presence online, have you?

What’s the difference between content marketing and SEO?

Why Content Marketing?

A well-defined content strategy and impactful content can be powerful tools in achieving your online objectives. Using well-crafted content that is search engine optimised (SEO), you are also able to exact a dramatic increase in your website traffic volume by increasing your visibility on search engine results pages.

You may be waiting for us to say it’s ‘free marketing’ but anything that takes time, costs money, and content marketing takes a lot of time to make a return. Do not be discouraged though, the time spent is well worth the return.

How to produce content that converts?

Content marketing is a bit more than the occasional blog post. It’s about creating or repurposing content that is genuinely helpful for your audience. Content that is all about you will never make a return, it needs to be about solving their problems and filling a gap.

Know your audience

Content may be king, but context is queen - She tells the king which pants to wear in the morning. The same goes for your content.

Do you really know your audience? It is the fundamental place to start. You need to have defined your buyer personas to know who your audience is, what challenges they are facing and how your product or service can help them. Only then will you know what content they are looking for.

You can also look to your past clients, what questions did they regularly have? These can form the basis of your pillar content that you can slowly expand upon.

Provide value

Good content adds value to your audience. When they leave your website or article, did they solve their problem or leave with the insights they were looking for? Think about the way you would want to receive your content. Would you read the article you just published? Yes, sometimes we want to drive an action to generate a lead. It just needs to be helpful and relevant, as though the natural next step in a process.

Type of content

The word content is often assumed to mean blog posts, which is a grave mistake for a marketer to make. Content needs to be multi-media: Think infographics, videos, images, white papers, comparative tables and useful tools. Anything that will catch the eye of your target users is considered content. Expanding your mediums will expand your reach and ultimately your conversions.

So I’m producing great user content, now what?

Now comes the hard part; content distribution. Posting a blog post on your website and getting a few affiliate backlinks isn’t going to cut it anymore. New content needs to be distributed on social media (that’s a given), but also across influencer channels:

• Where are my target users hanging out online?
• Which websites do they trust to give them information?
• Which community forums are they interacting with?
• What low-cost search terms are they using to ask questions that my brand can answer?

Don’t forget about measurability

Just because this is a long-term process, this doesn’t mean that you should neglect the tracking process through Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. These tools will help close the loop on the entire content marketing campaign, ultimately allowing you to properly understand a user’s journey from interest to action.

Final thoughts

If your business is ready to add some oomph to your content and reach the right customers with the right message, our team is at the ready. You can chat with one of our team members here or you can download an example of the work we do below.