Content. Everyone using the internet stumbles upon so much of it, that it’s simply hard to focus on it unless it’s really interesting and catches your attention quickly.
It takes around 0.05 seconds for a user to form an opinion about your website. Now, retaining the attention of your users is definitely not an easy task, this is why knowing your readers is so important.
If you don’t want to miss out on more sales, traffic, and leads then you should follow the steps that will help you create top content for your audience.
Before we get into the details, we have to define why you have to strategically plan your content creation.
Why is it important?
Proper content development for your website attracts users and potential customers consistently. It also provides free and useful information that your audience will appreciate.
When you develop high-quality content for your marketing, it could generate over three times more leads than outbound marketing and cost 62% less.
If you want your articles to be seen by more people then you have to rank higher on search engines. This is done by indexing your web pages, which means appearing in Google’s databases.
Depending on a number of factors related to search engine optimization that will be mentioned below, your website will have more or less value and this will determine how high you rank on the search results.
When posting an article or creating a new page on your website, Google won’t immediately show it in the first positions of the search results.
To reach potential customers when they are looking for a specific keyword, you need to apply some principles that will make it easier for search engines to find your content.
Writing articles and website content can sure be difficult, but capturing the attention of Google and your audience is the tricky part. Well, don’t worry about that, in the next paragraphs, you will find the secret recipe that will help you rock your website content.
Learn about your potential customers
When creating content it is always easy to fall into the pitfall of writing what we want to say instead of what our audience wants to read about. Avoid this by creating your buyer personas.
It will be easier for you to create content when you know exactly what the reader’s characteristics are. Your message will be also more effective when you know their interests, needs, and goals.
For example, instead of describing one of the features of your products or services, why not write about how your potential customers can improve their lives with great advice and suggest your product as a solution.
When you write content based on the reader’s motivation, your traffic will increase exponentially.
Choose a keyword
The next step is to decide the words or phrases you want to rank for on the search engines, also known as, keywords.
The best idea is to find phrases without too much competition and enough monthly searches, this will help you rank higher and faster. You want to find a balance and a good ratio between these two. Have in mind your audience’s interests.
To be able to find these keywords, Google Adwords is a good place to start. You can create a free account and use the tool keyword planner. This tool will give you suggestions related to the phrases you want to rank for. It will also tell you what’s the monthly search and how high is the level of competition.
Think about content ideas
Now that you know the keywords you want to target, it’s time to think about what kind of content you want to create for your audience.
People use the internet to conduct research and discover information. Make sure to use your website to educate and help prospects about trends and common questions in your industry.
A great tip to find out exactly what your audience wants to know about is to paste your keyword on Google or youtube and see what people are looking for. Answering these questions or searches will give you an amazing competitive advantage.
Let’s say you want to write an article about the Monstera plant, you could type “How to… Monstera” on Google and see what people are looking for. This is a great source of inspiration to write your next pieces of content.
Create a calendar for your content
This step is as important as the content itself. Knowing exactly when your articles will be posted will give you a great overview of how you are targeting your audience. You will be able to track whether you are posting enough information on one topic or perhaps missing out on necessary content for your audience.
A calendar will also help you keep a great workflow to be able to write and post more frequently to reach all your goals. In return, you will get a boost in productivity and you will start acquiring targeted traffic exponentially.
Start writing compelling copy
Take the time to write content that appeals to your audience. Copy that entertains, educates, and guides your readers.
A good rule of thumb is that the length of your articles should be more than 300 words. Nowadays the average post is 1269 words. But remember that it should be always about quality and not about quantity. Do the proper research and share interesting and relevant information with your audience.
A great piece of advice is to back your content up with data. A survey made to more than 1200 bloggers, revealed that checking analytics will make your articles 48% more likely to be successful.
Use analogies. Whenever you are talking about a subject that sounds complicated, try using a simpler way of portraying this idea. Your readers will appreciate it and it will increase empathy. There is a reason people still use “easy as pie”
Being funny or authentic is a great strategy to keep your audience entertained. Most people will remember a joke more than a brand slogan. So keep it in mind and show your personality.
Giving value to your audience should be the number one priority if you want people to come back. They will always appreciate when a brand puts the effort to know them better and write accordingly to their needs.
Improve your SEO
We all have heard the magic letters for Search Engine Optimization. Why is this so important?
Organic search makes up around one-third of traffic to companies’ websites. Increasing your chances of ranking on Google and other search engines is as relevant as ever.
If you want to be in front of your audience and grow organically then there are 5 SEO basics you should know.
Links
For search engines, links have always been a sign of the authority of a website. If Google for example can see that your webpage is mentioned several times by high-authority websites in your industry, then you will be labeled as more trustworthy. Therefore, it will help you rank higher.
Content
Another reason to do proper research and create content that caters to your audience’s needs is that search engines can also track if you are creating relevant and fresh articles periodically.
Meta descriptions and headlines
These might be the first words a person sees.
Headlines and meta descriptions of your post or page are displayed in the search results. As a first impression, you want to make a good one. This will help your audience decide if they click on your link or not.
Search engines can measure how many people are clicking on your link after appearing on their results, and this affects your ranking.
User experience
Google and search engines’ work is to provide the best experience possible to their users. That’s why people’s behavior on your website will affect positively or negatively your SEO.
Since the most important factor for users when looking at web design is how easy is to find what they are looking for, you should increase your site speed and keep your content clear, clean, and simple.
Optimize for mobile
Most people do searches on their mobiles nowadays, an easy way to check if your website is optimized is to just paste your URL here, and Google will tell you how well it performs and advise you on what to change.
Post, learn, improve, and repeat
Now is the time for you to use all this knowledge to develop top content for your website. If you do it right, you will see an increase in traffic and finally improve your sales and acquire more leads.
Remember to learn about your users and do proper research, if you know what they think and what they want, you will have an easy time writing for them.
Choose keywords based on research and start writing content ideas. A well-balanced content strategy based on easy-to-rank keywords and what your audience is looking for, will give you a great competitive advantage.
Create a calendar or a schedule with all the articles you want to write and post for at least the next three months. This will help you get an overview of your content and help you create milestones, so you stay motivated and organized.
Start creating your content! Gather all the knowledge you have acquired, keep in mind the copywriting strategies we mentioned, and the proper use of SEO.
Listen to your audience and measure your results. Keep creating optimized content and you will soon realize that reaching thousands of people organically is easier than ever.
Good luck!
About the author
Ivan is a Country Manager at JumpStory living in Aarhus, Denmark. He is responsible for sales and lead generation in Spain and Latin America.
He is also a professional marketing manager with experience in Europe and North America within SEO, digital marketing and international marketing strategies.
