What Is Content Strategy?

Providing great quality content and having a content strategy is the main foundation of a website.  Google webmasters bring up this issue on just about every video and piece of content they speak about.  

So let’s delve into what a good content strategy would look like.

• Creation of content plan
• Exploration of site related topics that are relevant to your business
• Title creation for content that is based on Keyword research and follows business goals
• Publishing schedule for content inventory
• Framework on your website to support content with Meta data for optimization of content

Before you even start your content strategy you should use the following factors.  We know content is king however you will find that just putting together great articles is not enough.  Keep these areas in mind when you sit down and create your plan.

• Business Stakeholders – We are fully engaged in the information sharing age but there are times that sharing the wrong type of information can do more damage than good.  Make sure that those people who will benefit or suffer from your content are aware and on board with your content strategy
• SEO – Writing content that won’t be read is not the purpose of your content strategy.  Use SEO best practices when creating your strategy.  Do the work to get the keywords that your desired audience is looking for.  Create great Titles using those keywords.  Use just 1 keyword per article.  Don’t try to fit all your keywords into one article.  Make it very topic oriented with anchor text that can touch on other topics that relate to the page.  Use images and video to bump your authority with your readers and the search engines.   Do not forget to properly title your images, give them alt tile tags and title text names.  Remember Google has no eyes but they can read titles
• Design- create content that is consistent and flows with your site.  Use the same font and format for your content.
• Public opinion / relations – Writing negative content meant to incite passion about a topic can, at times bite you in the rear.  Have a group or indiviual that can read your content before you post and make sure that your readers will not shoot the messenger.
• User experience – Create content that is written for the user.  Don’t use words that would not resonate with your readers.  Write as if you were speaking to them and not attempting to impress with long hard to pronounce technical jargon (unless you’re speaking to readers that really do understand and use those same terms).
• Marketing campaign – Consider your marketing campaigns and how your content could enhance those campaigns and add more value to the business marketing goals.

It’s easy to steer off course at times so it helps if you have a checklist for your content.  Follow the checklist below and you should never lose sight of your goals.

• When – When will you be posting the content?  Many people will write a years’ worth of content and publish as needed or appropriate
• How – How will you present the information and structure your article?
• Why – Why are you writing this content?  What goals do you expect to meet?
• Who- Who are you writing this content for?  You may have several different customer personas.
• What – What is your message? What point are you trying to make or need that you’re trying to fill?

If you use the checklist above to check your content strategy plan against then you should be set to go.

The thought I’d like to leave you with is that SEO for your website is not a backburner project that you can play with for a bit then let sit for months.  You’re competition is investing huge time and budgets into achieving and keeping their Google ranking, you need to be as strong as your competitors.

Do you need more information? Could you use a little help with your businesses content strategy? Complete Web Solutions is here to help. Contact our office today.  We are happy to give you our time and knowledge at no charge. Our team is dedicated to the success of the American business owner and getting you the information you need to be successful online is our business.  Call today 719 302-5029 or email contact@completewebsol.com to set up a one on one conversation that works with your schedule.