What does it mean to have a solid content marketing strategy? Many people assume that it is about using systems such as Google Analytics to identify the keywords and phrases that are bringing people to a site, then building more of them into its text for search engine optimization purposes. This is a reactive strategy, however, and what truly successful websites have in common is a proactive strategy – setting out targets and focusing efforts on working out how to achieve them.
Setting up a content marketing strategy begins with making a list of objectives. What is the site aiming to do? Is it aiming to sell directly? To direct readers to premises in a particular geographic location? To raise the profile of a brand? To change the way a brand is thought of? Any or all of these things could be important but they may not always be compatible, so the next step is to rank them in order of importance. It is then possible to start looking at that Analytics data and focusing not simply on the most popular searches but on those that fit with the site’s mission.
In the early days of search engine optimization, the content most successful in the rankings was often not very readable; content producers would make a choice between search engine success or attracting readers. Now that excessive use of keywords is penalized anyway, the focus has to be on the latter. This means that what counts is good quality writing, which takes more effort to generate – even when a business pays a copywriter rather than trying to do it in house, the business will not always succeed in finding a good copywriter straight away. Any business, however, can monitor time spent on pages to see how popular particular pieces of content are and develop them accordingly. This can help a business to establish the right voice for its brand, which is a key aspect of a successful strategy.
Rather than bombarding readers with content that may not achieve much, it is far better to concentrate on developing a coherent plan and producing a smaller amount of more successful content. This will provide far better returns on time and energy than a busy but unfocused approach favoring quantity over quality. For further advice, call Xcellimark at 888-318-3950 ext 211 to speak with an internet marketing consultant today.
