Last Friday we share Part I of our tips for developing and maintaining a top-notch content marketing strategy, and today we’re back with part two. As mentioned in last week’s post, content marketing is taking the IM world by storm, thanks in large part to Google’s Penguin update. Now, sites are ranked solely on the quality of their content and their perceived value to users rather than backlinks, page views, and any other previously used criteria. As a result of the Penguin update, Google has made it absolutely necessary for digital marketers to start engaging in content marketing and Money Maker Discussion is here to help. Here are five more tips on how to create an awesome content marketing strategy, courtesy of MMD.
- Have A Conversation—Despite all of our formal English teachings, essay-style writing doesn’t work very well in the blogosphere. You need to write in a conversational manner—make your readers feel like they’re talking to you face to face rather than reading a scholarly article. If your writing is too formal, readers will probably just leave your page, so keep it fun, keep it fresh, and keep it entertaining.
- Create Something Timeless—The speed of the Internet has conditioned us to think that being the first to know or share something is valuable, however, when it comes to content marketing, pieces that stand the test of time are much more valuable than some trendy topic. For example, a well-thought out article that offers up a content marketing strategy in the post-Penguin world is much more valuable than an article reporting the changes Google has made. Why? Because after the first week everybody will know about the new algorithm updates and won’t need to search for that news. What they will need to know is how to survive post-Penguin, making that post much more valuable (and more searchable) in the long run.
- Spread The Wealth—A great content marketing strategy doesn’t revolve solely around your own site, in fact, if you truly want to grow your fan base and improve your search results, you need to engage in guest posting. Guest blogging is not only a great way to build relationships with peers in your niche, but it’s also a great way to expand your reach and grow your network. So, create some quality content that is relevant to another blog, and simply create a backlink in the post. This will offer quality information to an audience that is normally outside of your network, while also helping your whitehat SEO efforts.
- Email Boosts Traffic—Email is undeniably the best way to drive traffic back to your site. Make sure that when people come to your site they are signing up to receive your email newsletter. Not only will this help you build your email list, but it will help you drive traffic, which Google considers when it ranks pages.
- Focus On Long-Tail Keywords—Content marketing won’t help you rank well for overarching keywords, but it will improve your search results for long-tail keywords—isn’t that what you want anyway? Studies have shown that the more specific a users search is, the closer they are to making a purchase, so ranking for long-tail keywords is an integral part to success with content marketing.
These are our last five tips for developing and maintaining a top-notch content marketing strategy. As always, leave your questions, comments, and feedback in the comment section below, and if you missed Part I, you can check it out HERE.