Banner Text
Banner Text

The main objectives of successful content marketing strategies is to produce leads, generate site traffic and establish thought leadership—but how do we get there? How do we set our content apart in overcrowded search engines busting at the seams with information? How do we get our audience to stay and click around once they’ve landed on our page? Two important elements of your content strategy can help solve this marketing mystery.

SEO: How great content gets found

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of influencing the organic or unpaid result of an online search. Content is dependent on SEO to get the attention of your target audience. Thousands of factors go into ranking a page in a search engine. Elements such as keywords, links and meta-data are among the most important and effective ways to rank highly in the eyes of Google, and drive more traffic to your website.

An effective content strategy considers SEO from beginning to end. Start by thinking about what keywords and phrases you want your pages to rank highly for, and then look for opportunities to work them into copy and meta-data. Once you’ve established a base of content, look for ways to get other credible sources to link back to your page. This builds credibility not only with your audience, but also with Google, which will further boost your ranking.

Relevant Information: What keeps people coming back

SEO will only get your page to appear in search results, but it won’t necessarily get people to engage with your content. To keep the right people clicking around, your content should be relevant to the audience. If the target audience finds your information engaging and useful, it has the potential to establish thought leadership and position your brand as an industry expert.

What makes content relevant? Information that’s useful, engaging and unique from your competitors. Content should be clear and concise while pulling in your readers with exceptional delivery. To set yourself apart, try playing with attention getting headlines, thought-provoking topics and creative imagery. Also, take a stab at unique types of content contrary to the typical blog post. Video, audio or interactive material such as quizzes or surveys are all good options.

In most cases, a lot of company time and effort goes into creating content. The secret’s out—if you’re not incorporating these tactics into each piece of content, you run the risk of losing the long term benefits of your content marketing investment. To read more about the components of successful content marketing, read the white paper, How to Build a Content Marketing Strategy.