Hello everyone, my name is Lucas Dantas and today I will share a successful strategy we have been using with some of our best clients; content creation. Creating content is not new. Formally called content marketing, as the name indicates, content marketing is creating content specifically as a marketing strategy. Its goal is the same as any other, to get more sales by attracting more website visitors.
Content creation has evolved so much in the last few years that it is arguably the most important thing you can do for your website. With that in mind, I have put together this ultimate guide for beginners so even if you have never created content for your website, you can still be a content creator.
How Do I Start?
To create content the very first thing you need to do is to come up with categories, these categories will vary depending on your goals, who you want to reach, and what is the purpose of the content. I will use some examples so it’s easier for you to come up with your own categories:
Here at Clear Profits, I have been providing educational content so people understand the benefits of each service we provide. Last month, I created an article showing people how to conduct a keyword research for a new business idea. The article teaches people about a free tool that measures the search volume of specific keywords in any given location. For our client Quality Roofing Pro, we have recently published an article about what to do if you had a hail storm that teaches homeowners how to look for damage and the proper way to seek a solution.
If you have read both articles, you may have noticed a few similarities but they have more in common that you may realize. Both examples have been created using the exact same framework, look below:
Article | Goal | Audience | Purpose |
How To Conduct A Keyword Research For A New Business Idea | Educational Solves a problem Invites people to get in touch | Business owners or entrepreneurs | If people look for “keyword research tools”, “how to do keyword research” in our local area our article needs to be one of the options. |
What To Do If You Had A Hail Storm | Educational Helps with a problem Invites people to get in touch | People who have had hail damage | If people look for hail damage solutions in our local area, the article needs to be one of the options. |
These two examples are just a few of the types of content you can create for your business. Creating your own categories is simply the best method I have found in order to keep consistency towards your goals. There are no limits when it comes to content creation and the benefits are huge in the long term.
Let’s imagine for a second that your AC unit has a problem, you decide to Google the problem and in the search results you find a company providing a step by step tutorial on how to fix it. How great is that from the customer perspective, right? I know you are thinking that you have just solved a problem for free but what about the next AC problem that cannot be fixed by a Google search? Who will you call? The likelihood of a potential customer calling a company because their content was helpful is much higher.
The examples I have provided specifically apply to blog articles on websites, however, this approach can be used for any type of content: podcasts, videos, social media posts, printed media, radio and TV ads, etc. A flower shop, for example, can create a video showing a list of the summer’s 10 most beautiful flowers and then for each flower listed, they can provide a discount code for people to order them on their website.
If you are still not sure how to create content try keeping these stages in mind:
Stage | Description | Example |
Attraction | You create content for people who still don’t know the brand or product. | At Clear Profits, we offer SEO services, which is a list of techniques to help you rank higher on Google. Even though nobody might search for “SEO services near me”, people will Google “how to rank higher on Google”. Our content needs to have the keyword people are looking for. |
Conversion | People like your content and they realize you have a product that helps them solve a problem, but they are not sure yet if yours is a good fit for them. Their objections could be related to pricing, quality, how the product was made, what is the end-result,or how much time it takes to see the results. | You have created a product called XYZ that helps with weight loss. People seem interested, but you are not getting enough sales. Create content to show the benefits of the product, how effective it is, or how it was made. |
Close | You are already in contact with several potential customers and most of them have a reason or two why they haven’t made up their mind yet. | In this case, you can create content to differentiate your business. Talk about how you can make things easier, customer service, your warranties, or show what people have been saying about your product/service. |
What Should I Do Before Publishing My Content?
In the past, just publishing an article could work to a certain extent, but not anymore. If you want to create content for people to find you in the first positions of Google, you have to put in more time and effort. First of all, you need to know how to conduct a proper keyword research.
Your content creation strategy needs to be backed up by data, and that is the goal of this research. By looking at the keywords people have been typing, analyzing the trends and the competitiveness for each one them, you can find opportunities.
Content Marketing Also Helps You Rank Higher
When you create good content, visitors are kept on your website for a longer time. That sends Google a positive signal as time spent on a website is one of the key metrics used by Google’s algorithm to determine a website’s ranking. Taking into account that almost no one accesses the results that are further down or outside the first page of Google, a strategy like this is very valuable for your business.
Additionally, content marketing creates a positive “snowball effect” with quantitative and qualitative results.
- Quantitative: The higher a page ranks the more visitors it will get and the greater the audience becomes.
- Qualitative: If someone keeps seeing a particular brand in search results, they start looking at the brand as an authority and trust is created.
If you look for “best restaurants near me”, in the first search results, you will probably see websites such as Yelp, Trip Advisor or other business listing services. That is because they provide valuable content for their audience with their listings, pictures and testimonials. Therefore, they rank higher.
My Content Is Published, Should I Just Wait Now?
No, you need to find ways to share your blog article. Social media is a great channel to share content and interact with potential customers. And if your content is really good, people will share it as well. You can also use your Google Business Profile to share your articles and those will be seen when people view your business on Google. But the most important thing is to get backlinks.
Getting Backlinks Make All The Difference
The hardest task when it comes to content creation is getting backlinks. Backlinks are links from other websites that direct people to yours. The higher the authority of the websites linking to yours, the higher you will rank on Google. If you Google “how to get backlinks” you will see there are services that you can pay to be referenced. But if you run a local business, here is what you can do:
- List business owners, local bloggers, chamber of commerce websites and news channels such as radio, newspaper, magazines in your local area and filter the ones that can be related to your business.
- Engage with them in community events and show your content to them.
- If they show interest, request that they reference your blog article in their website or blog.
For example, Cedar Creek Hall in Galesburg, IL has a blog article on their website about trends for grooms in 2022. In this blog article, we list what is trending now for groom wear so we have provided links to Sabrina’s Bridal and Ducky’s Formal Wear. That is a win-win because Cedar Creek Hall is giving valuable information to potential customers while Sabrina’s Bridal and Ducky’s Formal Wear could get sales from the people who are reading the article.
Keep in mind that the more people your content reaches, the more chances your site has to receive interesting links.
Optimize Your Posts and Pages for SEO
Content should be very well written, have no grammatical errors and have valuable information. However, without SEO techniques, no one may find it. According to studies, 90.63% of content gets no traffic from Google, and here we are showing how to be in your way to the 9.37%.
Optimizing pages/posts for SEO is more of a technical step, but it is absolutely necessary if you really want to rank high on Google. Optimizing your page and post titles and creating user-friendly meta descriptions using relevant keywords helps your website get better search visibility and makes it easier for people to find it.
The content of your page also needs to be optimized based on the keywords entered in the title and meta description. Similarly, these same keywords should be included in your page’s main header, also known as H1.
Optimized internal pages also make a big difference on ranking in search engine results so make sure your articles are connected. If you are not sure how, read this article from top to bottom again, see how I have referenced other blog articles and use that as an example for your content creation strategy.
Conclusion
Contrary to what it may seem, the results do not appear overnight. If you want to build an engaged audience for your company on the internet you need to have a little patience.
On Google Search Console, you can find out the keywords your website is ranking for and measure the results of your efforts. Additionally, you can use Google Analytics to see how much time people are spending on the pages of your website and HotJar to see how far they scroll on them.
If you do not have time or the skills to do it, hire an agency with expertise in digital strategies. This way, you guarantee the efficiency of each action and achieve better results for your company.
I hope you have enjoyed this content, the goal of these blog articles is to help you and your business succeed. Want to take advantage of the opportunities of the digital universe, but don’t know where to start? How about a free consultation now? Get in touch with us and let’s work together.