Content is the lifeline of every blog so it’s important you are publishing the best every time. Over the years I have learned how certain elements are important to the success of your content marketing. These elements push people to share, engage and build loyalty to your blog. We all can agree without the right type of audience who are loyal to your blog, you’ll have a hard time building momentum. The next question is: What are these elements, and what can you do to implement them going forward. I’ll like to go over each one and list them as a checklist. Right before you publish your content next time, go through each one making sure you have added this into your content.
Let’s get started and your feedback will be greatly appreciated.
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Do people need the content?
This is very important because you want to write about things that people are looking for. Content only provides value when you know people have a common problem which your solving. This is why I’ll always make sure I research questions people have within my niche before going forward. Once I find a combination of topics or questions people have, I’ll then write valuable content. Next,
The fact I’m writing solutions to question people have, I know it’ll create an immediate buzz with my audience. This also ensures I get the highest social shares, and engagement.
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Actionable
If you’ve read my content before then you know I always add actionable steps towards the end. You have to keep in mind many of the people reading your content will be first time visitors. They are looking for information and ways to accomplish something. For example, they typed in a search within Google and are looking for a solution through your content. It’s a good idea to provide them with a complete solution, but then action steps they can start to implement right away. I like to add these steps towards the end of the content in a very organized way.
The easier my steps are the more valuable they’ll be able to pull out which is great to build user retention.
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Uniqueness Matters
No one likes to read the same old content so try and find ways to make your content unique. I’ve always been a big fan to use tools like Buzzsumo.com to find competitor content based around same keywords. I’ll then visit each piece of content to see what’s different and what they are missing. I can then create a game plan to add what’s missing into my content making it different. Here’s some tips and look to see if your competition is missing:
- Images
- Depth
- Videos
- Infographics
Then whatever is missing you can add it into your content making it more unique.
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Fine Tune Headlines for Results
This is very important and you have to know how to fine tune them to get exposure. Whenever I’m writing content I’ll always include my main keywords into my headlines. This will help exposure when people are skimming within the search results and increase my overall CTR. However, placing your keywords within your title or headlines is great for SEO because it helps Google with indexing. The more “target†words you include within the title, the better your site will be indexed by Google. These keywords will also help your overall rankings. Next,
Having keywords within your headlines and title is important to ensure links are build the right way. For example, anchor text will be based around your target keywords placed within title, subheadings and body.
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Optimize Slug
What does this EXACTLY mean? It’s to make the URL friendlier so it gives your audience an insight into what to expect. It’s also very important for search engines because they can learn a lot from the keywords within the URL. Since 90% of people are using WordPress, the slug can be adjusted by tweaking a setting within the backend. With that said, go ahead and do it now, but also make sure the slug includes your main keyword. When Google indexes your page, you’ll be able to rank for some very important and relevant keywords.
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Shorter Paragraphs
Here’s something I learned overtime, and it’s that shorter paragraphs get way more engagement. People get turned off by clutter which pushes them away in the end. However, writing paragraphs which are shorter will entice people to stay on the page, and feel like they will get the value quickly. However, if you do switch to shorter paragraphs, then make sure you become more concise in your writing. Visitors are there to pull out the value from where they can. Next,
Within the shorter paragraphs make sure you have sufficient spacing at the same time. With proper spacing you are eliminating the feel of clutter. Having the right spacing will be easy on the eyes too.
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Make Content Swimmable
Here’s something else you should know and pay close attention to. People who are on your website are in need of content quickly. This means they don’t have too much time to find the information they are looking for. With that said, make sure your content can be skimmed through, and you have target keywords in the right place. Think about it this way: What are you looking for when you are reading content? You are looking for target keywords within the content…right? When you see some of them bolded, you automatically think you’ll find the solution to your problem. At the same time, you’ll continue to read through the content.
Going forward, try to incorporate this same strategy into your content by adding, highlighting, and underlining all the main keywords.
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Adding Internal Links
As someone who is reading content, I’ll like to find relevant information if possible. These serve as additional resources, and can help increase overall engagement. When I read content, I’ll not only share the content I’m reading, but any other additional resource too. With that said, here’s what you should do to ensure you keep the visitor on your site as long as possible.
First, go through bolding or highlighting “target†keywords that represent your content and brand. Secondly, link these to other additional high quality content that the reader will find useful. Content that builds on the point you are trying to promote or get in front of your reader. Third, make sure you have all the proper marketing tools on each page like comments, social share buttons, etc. Next,
Don’t forget how internal links can help you within the search engines. Google has stated links throughout the site can help with overall site authority by passing link juice to other pages.
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Images to Help
Ask yourself this question: Have you added images to help illustrate your point? People will be visiting your website/content from all over the world so it’s important everybody understands the value you are trying to provide. If you think about it, why are images and videos so popular now days? It’s because they present difficult content in a way where everyone can understand it. Remember, the easier the value to understand, the more people will engage with it going forward. Next,
Infographics are very popular and affordable because of the tools we have available. For example, Piktochart.com is a drag & drop tool which allows you to build them very easily.
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External Links Matter
WordPress users know that when you build an external link the other website is notified. If they like the value, you provide then they’ll accept the link and even return the favor which can add value to your page through a high authority link back. However, you have to be very selective when building links to other websites. Here are a few things to consider when going forward:
- Make sure the site is relevant and provide additional value to your content
- Make sure they are authoritative and have links from other high authority websites
- DON’T forget to focus on anchor text when building these links because these add value too.
- This is a good opportunity to build a relationship with the other blogger. Shoot them a quick message introducing the link to them. This can lead to guest blogging opportunities.
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Meta Data
Before hitting publish make sure you have all the meta data in place. The meta tag data is important for Google to identify what your content is about. Some keywords should be placed within the title, and description. This increases your CTR when searchers see your content appear within the search results. At the same time, it’s important to include keywords within the excerpt which again is important for the search results and indexing.
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Call to Action
In the end of all my content I like to add a call-to-action. Many of the readers are first time content seekers looking for a solution. This means after reading your content they might NOT know what to do next. It’s always a good idea to include a call-to-action they can follow through once they have arrived at the end of your content. This call-to-action can be a lot of things i.e. button, email, purchase, call-back, etc. However, whatever you choose make sure it’s related to your content. It’s a good idea to place this call to action within the middle or end of your content.
Final Thoughts
I hope you find this checklist useful and will use it the next time you write content. It’s important you have the fundamentals in place before going forward. This way you’ll create content which is special and will create enormous engagement online with your visitors. If you want additional information, then do a quick search online and you’ll find more resources.
