#1 Target Your Traffic Through Keyword ResearchKeywords play a powerful role in a content marketing strategy. They are the basic means of communication between searcher and search engine, representing the searcher’s voice and interest. Here’s how to brainstorm for relevant keywords and phrases: What are the key terms that you identify with your industry?
Do your products come in different styles or colors?
Do you have model numbers or serial numbers that someone might search for?
Would your product or service be categorized differently by region, or even by country? For example, one searcher might search “auto insurance” and another might search “car insurance.”
Consider your products or services by components. For example, if you sell playground equipment, what are the components of the playground equipment that you sell: swing set, slide, monkey bars, etc.?
From your market research, determine what kinds of questions people are asking about your industry. Do these questions give you new insight into how your products are being seen that you hadn’t considered before? Remember, the main idea in brainstorming for keywords and phrases is to think like a searcher and put yourself in his or her shoes.#2: Content Must be Maintained to be SuccessfulContent needs constant maintenance to be successful. You can’t ignore maintenance. Your content represents your brand and your expertise—your ability to meet the needs of your customers. Whether online or offline, the content you publish needs to be kept up to date in order to remain relevant, timely and accurate. Here are some common content issues that creep up when maintenance is neglected:
To begin monitoring your existing content assets, you will need to do a content audit, which involves using a simple Excel spreadsheet to take inventory. In the end you want to keep content that:
#3: Proper use of Links to Optimize Content The way that you handle links is a significant part of search engine optimization. The most important thing is to make it clear where a link will take your visitors—don’t surprise them. Using ambiguous or generic words such as “click here” as anchor text, is a less effective linking strategy than using clear and definitive words. Proper use of links means more visibility and success. Image source: iStockPhotoHere are some link tips:A link’s color should be different from the main text—most people expect it to be blue and underlined, so you might want to keep that in mind as you set up your style sheet.
The words that you highlight (anchor text) should be a good clue to the content that you’re linking to. Try not to send your visitor to a page that they’re not expecting.
Broken links look sloppy and give the impression that you’ve forgotten about the page. Both users and search engines frown upon broken links.
Search engines want to see links in your content, and internal links are the easiest way to accomplish that. Internal links are clues to your website’s relevance.
When using internal links, avoid generic anchor text such as “Want to read more? Click here.” Again, search engines want to see relevance in the anchor text. To ensure relevance, make sure that the anchor text for those links matches the title of the page it links to, whether it’s a page on your site or a page on another website.
Above all, links should direct users to a page that is relevant to the content that they are currently engaging. Directing users away from the topic at hand is a surefire way to lose their attention.#4: Use Social Media to Promote Content—the Right Way The greatest value of social media is that it’s social. You have the opportunity toengage and interact with potential customers by adding a sense of familiarity and comfort to your brand image.The Motor Lodge in Prescott, AZ is a great example of a small business doing this on Facebook. They’ve generated a following of about 1,600 fans on their page, and are keeping them engaged with updates about life at the hotel (even though most of their followers aren’t immediately looking to spend the night in Prescott). Their success comes first from a quality website that demonstrates who they are, is appealing to visitors and is easily navigable.The Motor Lodge has a visually attractive website that shows off their brand's personality. Second, they consistently post interesting content on Facebook, such as stories about their resident cat Shadow, and invitations for fans to “come to our place for a good shower.” Their updates treat followers as friends and even more importantly, the down-to-earth posts encourage comments and interaction. Third, their updates aren’t necessarily about them, but rather offer reasons to come to Prescott, AZ. These kinds of updates don’t sound like advertising, but for last-minute getaways, this quaint little town will be on the radar of most of their fans, and they’ll have a reason to stay at the lodge! You can do this too by building relationships on Facebook so that when you have some content to promote, you have an audience that’s ready to receive it.
Do your products come in different styles or colors?
Do you have model numbers or serial numbers that someone might search for?
Would your product or service be categorized differently by region, or even by country? For example, one searcher might search “auto insurance” and another might search “car insurance.”
Consider your products or services by components. For example, if you sell playground equipment, what are the components of the playground equipment that you sell: swing set, slide, monkey bars, etc.?
From your market research, determine what kinds of questions people are asking about your industry. Do these questions give you new insight into how your products are being seen that you hadn’t considered before? Remember, the main idea in brainstorming for keywords and phrases is to think like a searcher and put yourself in his or her shoes.#2: Content Must be Maintained to be SuccessfulContent needs constant maintenance to be successful. You can’t ignore maintenance. Your content represents your brand and your expertise—your ability to meet the needs of your customers. Whether online or offline, the content you publish needs to be kept up to date in order to remain relevant, timely and accurate. Here are some common content issues that creep up when maintenance is neglected:
- Old, inaccurate or irrelevant content
- Broken links within the content
- Policy changes that may affect content
- Inconsistency with branding style
- Inaccurate or missing meta-descriptions
To begin monitoring your existing content assets, you will need to do a content audit, which involves using a simple Excel spreadsheet to take inventory. In the end you want to keep content that:
- Is relevant, timely and useful.
- Meets your organizational goals.
- Adds value to your customers’ experience.
#3: Proper use of Links to Optimize Content The way that you handle links is a significant part of search engine optimization. The most important thing is to make it clear where a link will take your visitors—don’t surprise them. Using ambiguous or generic words such as “click here” as anchor text, is a less effective linking strategy than using clear and definitive words. Proper use of links means more visibility and success. Image source: iStockPhotoHere are some link tips:A link’s color should be different from the main text—most people expect it to be blue and underlined, so you might want to keep that in mind as you set up your style sheet.
The words that you highlight (anchor text) should be a good clue to the content that you’re linking to. Try not to send your visitor to a page that they’re not expecting.
Broken links look sloppy and give the impression that you’ve forgotten about the page. Both users and search engines frown upon broken links.
Search engines want to see links in your content, and internal links are the easiest way to accomplish that. Internal links are clues to your website’s relevance.
When using internal links, avoid generic anchor text such as “Want to read more? Click here.” Again, search engines want to see relevance in the anchor text. To ensure relevance, make sure that the anchor text for those links matches the title of the page it links to, whether it’s a page on your site or a page on another website.
Above all, links should direct users to a page that is relevant to the content that they are currently engaging. Directing users away from the topic at hand is a surefire way to lose their attention.#4: Use Social Media to Promote Content—the Right Way The greatest value of social media is that it’s social. You have the opportunity toengage and interact with potential customers by adding a sense of familiarity and comfort to your brand image.The Motor Lodge in Prescott, AZ is a great example of a small business doing this on Facebook. They’ve generated a following of about 1,600 fans on their page, and are keeping them engaged with updates about life at the hotel (even though most of their followers aren’t immediately looking to spend the night in Prescott). Their success comes first from a quality website that demonstrates who they are, is appealing to visitors and is easily navigable.The Motor Lodge has a visually attractive website that shows off their brand's personality. Second, they consistently post interesting content on Facebook, such as stories about their resident cat Shadow, and invitations for fans to “come to our place for a good shower.” Their updates treat followers as friends and even more importantly, the down-to-earth posts encourage comments and interaction. Third, their updates aren’t necessarily about them, but rather offer reasons to come to Prescott, AZ. These kinds of updates don’t sound like advertising, but for last-minute getaways, this quaint little town will be on the radar of most of their fans, and they’ll have a reason to stay at the lodge! You can do this too by building relationships on Facebook so that when you have some content to promote, you have an audience that’s ready to receive it.
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