When deciding on the type of content you’ll be placing on your web site or blog, you must be strategic. Shut up Ro, it’s my blog and I write what…
When deciding on the type of content you’ll be placing on your web site or blog, you must be strategic. Shut up Ro, it’s my blog and I write what I want to…is what some of you are thinking right now.
Unfortunately, choosing a balanced and calculated content strategy vs. taking a pray and spray approach, can be the difference between the success and demise of your online karma and respect. The same can also be said about the tone of your site’s content.
When it comes to content that is representative of a business, it’s wise to follow these general rules of thumb:
1. Provide value to your readers.
2. Be careful not to offend your readers (if you do, there’s a classy criticism sandwich method for doing so).
3. Balance the topic choice while still staying relevant for optimal effectiveness.
You’re offending me…
Recently I visited the blog of a particular night spot in a certain city. Yes…I’m being very vague here…for the sake of protecting this establishment’s online rep.
I read the 2 latest posts. Balanced as they were, the first one I read was a quaint history of the owner and his/her journey from starting the establishment to its fruition. Very charming and heart warming. It may have even put a smile on my face, or possibly just on my thoughts.
The next post, well, was somewhat…unnerving. I’m certain I cringed, and/or did a double take to see if I was still on the same site. The point is, as a patron, I was a bit turned off.
Granted, it’s not my blog, and everyone certainly has the right to free speech, especially online. Shout out to all the internet thugs – not really. Not at all actually, but you get my drift.
Let’s face it. At SwaggerBrand, we support being confident in your own choices and yes, you can write about what you want to on your own website, because it’s yours, but there is a thin line between confidence and complete foolishness.
For those readers that did not offend the owner, there was a lack of respect and acknowledgement. So, in retrospect, we were offended as well, even though the content wasn’t directed towards us. The execution just wasn’t classy nor clever, of which I condone both.
With that being said, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard “Ro! No one’s visiting my site!”. It’s not usually the case that the client has offended their readers. That’s actually very seldom the case.
This is usually because, first of all, I always suggest an additional package of keyword research and content for a client’s website so that they aren’t opening an awesome new store in the middle of the desert – which is the equivalent of launching a website without a predetermined content strategy. That strategy should basically consist of an arsenal of keywords and great website copy that is already optimized for search engines to feast on.
There is not much content on this site, yet, but the content that we have, has been getting visited everyday, because it was planned out before it was written. So far, we have a great balance of content ranging from informative, slightly controversial, to engaging. That wasn’t a mistake.
In addition to making sure you have a balanced approach to your strategy, you want to make sure you’re using content marketing analytics tools that make your life easier when it comes to being as effective as possible with your content marketing strategy.
Here is what I do:
1. Always use WordPress as the CMS plaform for content heavy websites or blogs. Google loves it and it makes your life a lot easier.
2. Use the appropriate keyword research tool(s) to plan your content strategy wisely.
3. Review content marketing analytics with Google and Bing Websmaster Tools along with Google Analytics to see what visitors are actually typing in to get to your website.
Why Use WordPress?
The question is… why not use WordPress? It’s customizable, easy to effectively perform on-site seo and get indexed in search engines, and you can exercise your confidence by doing what you want on your own website, (while not praying and spraying potentially boring, lame, and/or offensive content). I’ll be writing a post soon on why you should not use Blogger or WordPress.com to host your own website or blog.
Yes, there is a difference between WordPress.org (which I want you to use, please) andWordPress.com, which I suggest using as a coaster while sipping your beverage of choice and successfully using the malleable CMS at WordPress.org for your website’s own personal or business branding.
Sorry for the overkill in explanation, but you must understand this.
Keyword Tools
I will explain this in detail in an exclusive content video post in the future for those interested in how to do this. Basically, the only keyword tool I use, and have been using successfully for about 4 years now is Micro Niche Finder.
This probably sounds like alien speak to some readers now, but it’s easy to use and gives a broader insight into some metrics thatGoogle’s Keyword Tool doesn’t. That’s up to you.
Ultimately, the point of the tool is to find out what readers are typing into search engines. Tell me how you came upon this post. If organically, via Google or Bing, or Yahoo search engines, thanks to Micro Niche Finder.
I mentioned WordPress plugins earlier. Using the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast, will also add some extra years on your life when trying to rank for certain keywords.
This works wonderfully to get your posts in the eyes of the readers you’re trying to reach.
Content Marketing Analytics
So, if you thought I was going to go into the details of this for you, I’m not, because it’s far too involved to go beyond a bit of the basics in such a short post.
I will tell you this. Having access to Google and Bing Webmaster Tools, along with Google Analytics, is like having access to the holy grail of your website’s future.
You can see how visitors arrived to your website, what they typed in, what gadget or computer they used to view your site, how long they stayed, the effectiveness of custom A/B testing, where they clicked, etc.
Content should be a no-brainer at this point. Start adding the specific words and topics visitors are using to get to your site to give them the content they are hungry for.
Having access to this plethora of information allows you boundless chances to optimize content for your website and tweak your already intricate content marketing strategy.
Improving conversion rates, if you have an e-commerce business or using landing pages to gain more customers, is also one of the many benefits of reviewing the analytics of your content marketing.
The Goal Values feature in Google Analytics is perfect for websites that have a content marketing strategy set up to either sell one product (not multiple products or upsells…this is what the Ecommerce tracking feature is for) or capturing leads.
This feature allows you to test the conversion effectiveness of a test product or a landing page/lead generation method, before actually going full force with a product launch or a content marketing campaign.
Separate your goal values based on the lead generation method you’re using i.e., affiliate links, document downloads like ebooks or whitepapers, newsletters, webinar signups, etc.
Your goal value that you set for each is going to be the revenue you generate from one of those methods, divided by the number of leads you make per campaign.
The reality of this is you will not have this data if you aren’t organically attracting enough customers, making your content marketing analytics completely useless to you.
The lesson here…make sure you develop a content strategy beforehand, because praying to the Google gods for traffic isn’t going to help you.
Food for thought…it will be wise to experiment with the many options and statistical tools in Google Analytics. They’re grown up Legos for website enthusiasts and SEOs.
There is no limit to what insights you can stumble upon using these analytical tools. Stay tuned or contact me for more information about how SB can effectively use these tools to benefit you and your blog and/or website.
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