A good content strategy is the backbone of every content marketing plan. It’s something that a content agency will create to get the wheels in motion and something you should consider if you’re creating the content yourself.
But what is a content strategy, and why is it so important?
What is a Content Strategy?
A content strategy is simply a structured plan based on content creation.
If you launch a new project and need to start thinking about content creation and SEO, your first step is to plan everything that follows—what you’ll create, how much you need, what keywords you’ll use, etc.
Why Do You Need a Content Strategy?
Proper preparation is key to any major undertaking, but it’s especially important in the world of content creation. Every day, 2 billion websites publish over 7.5 million articles, and that doesn’t include the countless social media pages and YouTube channels all fighting for those top rankings.
A content strategy keeps you competitive despite these challenges, and it can also provide these benefits:
It Gives You Direction
If you don’t have a clear direction, it’s easy to veer off course.
You start by focusing on low-hanging fruit in the health and fitness niche, and before you know it, you’re writing about pharmaceuticals because you found some underused keywords.
Relevancy and consistency are key to good content marketing, and strategizing will keep you focused on these aspects.
It Can Help You to Define Your Goals and Message
Do you know what your USP is and who your ideal customer is? Do you have a clear and coherent message? More importantly, were these things defined before or after you researched your target audience and planned your continent?
Content research and creation will tell you what your target demographic cares about, from the content they consume to the values they appreciate.
It Ensures That Everyone is on the Same Page
With a proper content strategy in place, everyone in your organization—whether it’s an outsourced writer/editor, an SEO team, or your own in-house specialists—will be working toward the same clearly defined goals.
What Do You Need to Consider When Creating a Content Strategy?
A content strategy can be as simple or as detailed as you need it to be, but to ensure all bases are covered, it should include:
Find Your Target Demographic
If you have a business plan, you know who your customers are. However, a content strategy may deviate from that if your main customers don’t consume a lot of content.
It could force you to adapt your strategy to focus more on YouTube/TikTok videos or social media posts.
A content strategy is also just one piece of the marketing puzzle, and it’s something that can be used in combination with paid ads, commercials, and social media marketing to target all areas and all potential customers.
Research Your Niche
Research your target niche using SEO tools to understand what customers are searching for. If we return to the example of the health and fitness niche, you may discover questions and concerns relating to specific ailments.
If these are the questions your ideal customers are asking, you should be the one answering them.
Researching will also tell you how likely you are to rank for these keywords. It’s overly ambitious to assume you could rank highly for generic keywords relating to specific supplements, diets, and fitness regimes—“creatine”, “paleo”, “resistance training”—but you could find long-tail keywords relating to the use of these products—“does creatine cause baldness”, “what can’t I eat on the paleo diet”, “how many calories will I burn with resistance training”.
Come Up With Relevant Content
Once you have a good idea of who your customers are and what they’re looking for, it’s time to target them.
Use keywords and market research to create appealing content ideas, and then consider how these will be presented on your site.
Are you writing guides and blogs? What about topical news articles, press releases, social media posts, and videos?
How will this content be presented and used? For instance, you could start with a long-form video, get it transcribed, and then produce blogs based on the content while also chopping up video segments for use on social media.
Plan Your Content
Consider how often you will post and what that schedule will look like.
Consistency is key in every user-driven algorithm, whether it’s videos on YouTube or posts on a blog. Not only do your users want to see regular updates, but the algorithms that track and rank your content also prioritize companies that post regularly.
Make it Unique
It’s easy to regurgitate other content that you find online. But that’s not what your customers want.
Even if you’re covering topics that have been covered a million times before, do it in a way that helps you to stand out.
Is it personalized, witty, or irreverent? Is it short and snappy or filled with easy-to-understand examples in the form of graphics, video clips, and infographics?
You’re not just creating content for search engines. You’re writing and publishing to be read and enjoyed, so make it enjoyable!
Keep Your Content Updated
Content gets stale fast. It can also be dated by new laws, discoveries, and regulatory updates. Truely evergreen content is rare, so your content strategy should include plans to keep the content updated.
Summary: Understanding, Planning, and Maintaining a Content Strategy
Remember the adage of the 5 Ps: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
Jumping the gun with your content could get you some of the results you seek, but every niche, topic, and keyword is fiercely contested.
The more you plan, the better those results become.
A good content strategy—one that includes research, demographic/keyword considerations, relevancy, and regular audits/maintenance—gives you direction and keeps everyone in your organization on the same page.
It’s a lot of work, and you’ll be competing against organizations that have fine-tuned the process and are able to get consistent results. if you want to match them, consider working with an experienced, results-driven agency.
That’s where we come in. Contact us today to discuss your next project and discover how we can help.
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