Content Marketing for Increased Visibility
I educate fellow marketers everyday and I find that 90% of my audience are missing the point. It is easy to become snowblind with information overload and lose focus on what is actually important. In this short video blog I aim to go back to the basics to explain what you need to know when it comes to SEO.
How Good Content Affects SEO
Search engines hire the smartest tech guru’s on the planet for the sole purpose of connecting their users with high quality content. Their algorithms not only scan content for quality but they also scan users engagement metrics as well. These metrics include: Time on page, clicks on your site, exit rate, bounce rate for new as well as returning users. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and the point of this blog isn’t to explain how search engines work. Don’t try to outsmart search engines and certainly do not pay anyone to try and trick them for you. Focus on helping your target market find solutions to their problems and the smart algorithms of search engines will notice.
Getting back to the basics
Search engines employ some of the smartest IT professionals on the planet, and they are all working with the sole purpose of creating a system that connects high quality content with their users. Instead of trying to out-smart the system you need to be focusing on working with the system.
How to partner and work with Search Engines instead of against them
In order to partner with search engines, you need to really grasp the simple fact that they WANT to rank your content. Google, yahoo and bing want to connect their users with your relevant, high quality content. Without your content, they are out of business. At this point, we should all agree that content is the most important thing to search engines, and if you want your website to rank for keywords, then you need the best content on your site.
Content SEO: where should you start?
Phase 1: Outlining your Game Plan
Before you do anything, you need to think about the problem your business solves in your market space. Remember, users who can find solutions to their problems in your content are more likely to engage than general information alone.
Next, make a list of all the keywords and topics a user might search in order to find a solution to their problem.
Lets use my blog as an example:
Problem in my industry: SEO is confusing and digital marketers are having a hard time prioritizing efforts and taking action on what is actually important
Topic Keywords: Content marketing for SEO, SEO made simple, prioritizing SEO efforts, SEO agency in Philadelphia, SEO consulting blog, most effective way to optimize for search engines, how to do SEO the right way
Once you have defined the problem and the topic you are going to cover, you can now begin creating content to explain how to solve the problem for your users.
Phase 2: Creating Content
Not all content is created equal.
Messaging
When creating content you should empathise with your users base. Think about the problem they are trying to solve and deliver a clear message with unique solutions to their problem. It is important that your solutions are unique to outline thought leadership but more importantly – stand out from the crowd. After all, you don’t want to sound like everybody else in your market.
Your blog should have about 300 – 500 words, clear and concise headlines for each section, and opportunities for your users to engage with call to actions.
Medium
You want to pick the medium/delivery method that will get your users the answer to their problem as efficiently as possible. A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth much more than a picture. It may sound like old news but many marketers overlook this very simple concept. 2-5 minute videos have the highest engagement rate in the content world. Source: Wistia
Infographics, photos, resources and maps are all great ways of explaining the “who, what, where, why and when” of your message.
Marketing
At the end of the day, you shouldn’t just be creating content to rank for keywords, you should be creating content to help those you are trying to reach. The more people you help, the more successful your business will be. Plus, if you have high quality, relevant information on your site, users are more likely to engage and follow through with contacting you for help. Empathize with your consumers needs, offer creatively unique solutions and you will be a rock star marketer!
