Like Bill Gates said about 20 years ago, content is still king. Value draws people's attention in terms of content, but it also gets them to stick and even become customers. Therefore, content marketing is still the most powerful technique to convert visitors into customers.
As easy as it may seem, content marketing is actually a challenge. Unique content is based on ideas that have been shared before, so it isn't easy to come up with something new. However, the good news is that you can do certain things to stand out.
A few words about content marketing
Coming up with a good strategy is critical – from the actual creation to the distribution of your content. This strategy can include blogs, social media channels, guest posts, newsletters, and email, among many others.
In other words, content marketing is not only about creating quality content but also about proper distribution and further analyses. No matter how much effort you put into this strategy, the goal is always the same – getting more traffic, which will inevitably bring customers, too.
Make sure your content is unique
Uniqueness goes in more ways when it comes to content marketing. Sure, you can grab a good article and spin it – find synonyms for most words and call it a day. While it looks unique, the truth is you are far from it. Besides, search engines may find it dodgy, and readers will find it difficult to browse.
Other times, your ideas may seem original, but they are not unique. Whether you rely on someone else's articles or write your own, double-check their uniqueness. Draftable is a sufficient tool for comparing documents or chunks of text. There is a plagiarism check built into Grammarly.
Find solutions to a problem
Content marketing is successful when you draw attention, and you can only achieve such levels of success if you provide value. Imagine someone finding a cure for cancer – they would go viral overnight and become an international sensation.
While you are less likely to find the cure for cancer, you can try to find solutions to another problem. Rising gas prices? Rising food prices? Lack of jobs? Options to make money online? Posting content faster? Whatever it is, you need to provide effective solutions to keep people on the page.
To find the optimal solution, identify the perfect customer first. Then, try to find out what kind of problems they are facing. Once you find the most popular issues, you can try to come up with solutions. It takes a bit of time to go through all these steps, but it is totally worth it.
Do not just do it blindly
When you do content marketing for a business, you obviously ask some questions. You need data to help you understand the goals and current circumstances. Most people overlook this aspect when doing content marketing for growth. Sure, they know what they need, but they never sit down to take notes.
What are your goals? How much time do you want to give yourself? Keep in mind that content marketing is not about achieving overnight success because it is less likely to happen. Instead, it takes quality content all over the web and months to grow up.
Once you have a proper plan, stick to it. Give it months or even a year. Again, nothing will change straight away. But keep doing it and watch the traffic – if you do everything in an organized manner, you will notice some positive changes.
Timing is critical
Quality helps. Distributing your content over the right channels helps, too. But then, if you spend your time doing nothing but content marketing, chances are you will no longer be able to focus on your business. You need proper planning and time management to achieve results from all directions.
Are you stuck with invoices? Are you Overwhelmed by resumes from potential employees? Automate as many processes as you can then. Use different software relying on artificial intelligence to ensure certain parts of your work are done by robots. It sounds complicated, but it is fairly simple.
Take Affinda, for example. This website allows invoice data extraction, automatic data entry, and a better organization of CVs. Obviously, there are plenty of other AI-based software programs out there, and each can save you time efficiently.
Keep it long and well organized
Your content should not take just a minute to read. If you can keep people on your page for more than five minutes, do it. Search engines also appreciate longer and better-detailed pieces of content. In other words, writing 2,000 words is better than writing 300 words.
Not sure how to expand your article? There is always more to write on a particular topic. Use the topic in search engines, and you will find all kinds of suggestions. For example, Google offers a mid-section known as people also ask. You will find similar questions and suggestions, which can be expanded.
You can slightly go in one direction or another, but make sure everything is related to the topic. As for the actual organization, ensure you have plenty of paragraphs and lots of subtitles to break large chunks of text – no one wants to read something like that.
Use data and specific research
When writing an article, it is much easier to find something similar and use someone else's data and research. However, this is a terrible mistake. Such things will not bring in too much value. Sure, you should not share data about your customers or visitors, but feel free to go for research studies. Include numbers, too – they have a solid impact, and people are likely to remember them.
Even if some of your readers will not necessarily be impressed by your research results, the fact that you went the extra mile will add to the credibility and make your content authority in the respective field.
Visuals do matter
A big chunk of text is meant to bring in lots of useful information, but it is said a picture is worth a thousand words. Therefore, you need to implement visuals into your content because they will add to the readers' imagination and help them browse the content more easily.
Pictures tend to capture more attention than words – sure, words include all the data your readers need, but images are about impact. Whether it is a video, a shocking image, or just a screenshot of statistics and analytics, such things make the difference.
Keep an eye on statistics
Double-check their impact as you upload one post after another. How many people have visited the respective link? How much time have they spent on the website? Always keep an eye on your posts and how they do.
Why? It's pretty simple. You can tell what kind of topics people find more interest in. Maybe your readers prefer how-to guides, or perhaps they like top 10 tips and tricks articles. Every strategy is different, so find out what resonates with the readers.
Repurpose old content
Old content is usually left in the dust. But it is already indexed and shows up in search engines, so how about repurposing it? How about making it actual and popular again by updating it? Many people believe leaving old content untouched shows evolution, but this is not how search engines work.
Feel free to go through your oldest posts and edit them. Make them accurate and update them with the latest innovations and discoveries in your field. Bring in notes, templates, and all sorts of valuable things that helped you.
Diversify your content
Content is not all about text. You can take content to a completely different level these days. Pictures? Helpful. Videos? Even better. Bring in some infographics, as well as full galleries, rather than simple images.
Interactive elements will definitely help too. The more diversified your content is, the more platforms it can go on. For example, some social media channels are exclusively made for pictures and videos, so there is not too much room for text
Conclusion
In short, content has become more diversified these days and allows plenty of room for innovation. While text and written information still dominate, expanding your vision will inevitably provide access to more opportunities in the long run.
It is worth noting that no matter what you do, content marketing is often a matter of trial and error. What works for some websites and businesses will not necessarily work for yours. You need to try, give it time, observe and keep going or perhaps try something else.
In the end, you get the point – content marketing requires top-notch customization and takes time and patience. It can make the difference between a booming business and an anonymous entity if done correctly.
Author’s BIO: Lori Wade is a journalist and content writer from Louisville. Lori creates news and informative articles about copywriting, freelance, and creative writing. You can find her on LinkedIn.