When we look ahead to the future, we can’t help but notice the key components of digital marketing. For example, did you know that 50% of all searches will utilize voice by the year 2020? Did you know that roughly 75% of all netizen traffic by 2020 will be made up of online videos?
How about the fact that 84% of all people are expecting brands to bring them engaging, educational content? These are all elements of SEO and material that are likely to dominate your thoughts in the months or even years to come.
However, even with all of these trends, it all comes down to content. Your search engine optimization must be regarded at all times. Yet without great content, you really won’t keep anyone around. Your target audience wants more than a sales pitch.
They need content that will inspire them to not only consider what you offer but to live better, fuller lives on some levels.
All of this can sound challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. We have put together 5 steps to write great content for not only the search engines but for the people, you are reaching out to, as well.
At the end of the day, you aren’t going to get very far, if you don’t know what your audience is expecting you. Are you marketing your content to millennials? Gen Z? Both? Does your audience have a lot of disposable income?
These are all questions worth keeping in mind. One key is to think about what you would expect from a business such as yours. What kind of services would you demand, and what type of content would do the best possible job of showing you those services?
It stands to reason that your audience wants a seamless experience across all of their devices. It also seems likely that they wish to conduct better than a mere sales pitch.
It can be helpful to learn more about your audience by studying some of your competitors. Don’t rip them off but pay attention to what they say and do.
Authority, relevance, and trust make up the foundation of all successful content. Naturally, all of these elements should be in play with your own material. Relevancy is crucial. While it can be useful to do more than focus intensely on the particulars of your business, it is straightforward to go too far in the opposite direction.
Your content needs to do more than be clear and concise. It needs to have deep connections to why your audience has come to you in the first place.
At the same time, relevancy will only take you so far. It is one thing to be relevant. There is still such a thing as being boring. This can be considered in several different ways. What it comes down to is making sure content engaging, entertaining (when appropriate), and relevant to the larger subjects that define your business. In doing so, you can establish the authority, relevance, and trust that we are talking about.
Understanding your keywords in no uncertain terms is a vital component to your success. SEO continues to be important to Google, Bing, and every other search engine under the sun. We would strongly suggest that you take keyword research seriously.
This means the ability to know and apply them to any type of content you are creating. There are a number of marketing tools for small business that you can use to find the best keywords to rank and drive more traffic to your site!
Don’t forget: How to apply those keywords is just as important as knowing them. It doesn’t do you any favors to just jam a bunch of keywords into some text.
Google isn’t going to look kindly on that. The search engine giant is getting more and more efficient at knowing when websites are doing such things. You will be lucky if people are able to find you at all.
Organic keyword usage is vital. Regardless of the particulars of your business, it is indeed possible under almost any circumstances to use your keywords in a way that still ensures your content actually has something to say. Make sure you are always in the practice of researching all of your relevant keywords, as well.
Are you on social media? Can your customers reach out to you with ease? Social media is the best place to address specific questions that your customers might ask you. No one is saying you should be on every single hub.
You will likely want to focus on Facebook. Then you can add one or two more to your social media presence. All of these avenues should give people to reach out to you with any questions or concerns they may have.
Answering questions directly and honestly, and with a good dose of friendliness, supplements your content in the best possible way. Think of this as a way to emphasize your authority, which in turn helps you to generate more conversions.
Who are you really writing for? The answer should be people. While you need to keep the robots that keep track of things on Google and Bing in mind, your first and foremost concern should involve the human beings you are addressing.
You don’t want a website full of content that has the right information, and uses the right keywords but doesn’t really engage beyond those two marks. That might be technically correct, but it also generally winds up being very dull indeed.
Your content can appeal to human beings in a variety of different ways. Making sure you do this does not have to mean sacrificing the essentials for getting noticed by Google, Bing, or any other search engine.
By creating content that is optimized for the robots, but written for the people you want to reach, you are giving your content the best possible chance to help your brand succeed.
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