Content marketing is one of the most important things that your business needs to be doing online. It’s the best way for your brand to connect with customers and progress in the digital landscape. But creating a successful content marketing strategy isn’t easy and can be very time-consuming – which is why partnering with a content creation agency can really help.
As an experienced digital marketing consultancy in Melbourne, we fully understand what the best content marketing practices are and how they can help to improve your company’s online presence.
In this article, we’re going to take you through the 6 most important things when it comes to successful content marketing and why you can trust us to make your business grow online.
But First, What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the process of creating and sharing online content with the overall goal of engaging and stimulating interest in your products or services. It’s less ‘buy this now’ and more ‘what would you like to know?’ Content marketing can be in many different forms such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, social media posts, landing pages and newsletters.
The content needs to be well-researched and add real value to your readers or viewers. It’s not enough to just write about what you want to write about, you need to be answering the questions people are searching for in a fun and engaging way.
Best Practices for Content Marketing
In order to become an authority in your field online, you need to be implementing these content marketing practices. They’ll help to keep you focussed on your potential customers and reach them in an organic and informative way.
1. Get to Know Your Audience
Who do you want to be engaging with your online content? Who is your ideal customer? Whenever you share content online, it’s important it’s seen by those who could benefit from it and learn about your products or services. You also need to think about what platform those people are on and target specific keywords accordingly.
A content marketing consultancy can help you narrow down your potential clients and pinpoint where and how they are likely to engage with your online content.
2. Research Your Competitors
A large part of your content marketing strategy is finding gaps in the information that’s already been shared online. And then filling those gaps with unique and compelling content. By looking at the content other companies in your business area are sharing, you can get an idea of what works and what’s missing. A content creation agency will use the latest software to create reports so you can target questions that your audience is asking.
3. Use Keywords (But Don’t Overdo It)
Keywords are all about finding terms your audience is entering into a search engine and providing the correct content. As one of our main SEO tips to help your business grow online, they really are key to good content marketing. And sometimes they’ll surprise you! You might think that your audience is searching for a specific topic but quite often keyword research brings up something different.
It’s essential you’re creating content that your audience wants to see. If you don’t, you’ll be wasting time creating killer content that no one is going to read. You need to include these keywords throughout your content so that search engines can find it and start to rank you as a trusted website. But don’t overdo it. Google’s Panda Update made it clear to everyone that quality is very important. Keyword stuffing no longer works. Google wants to rank real websites that offer good, informative and engaging content to its users.
4. Make Sure Your Voice Is Heard
You need to stand out from the crowd. Of course, that means finding unique keywords but it also means finding a unique voice. People will trust your company and brand more when it’s personal, relevant, engaging and informative. A good tone of voice that strikes the balance between being fun and professional will be memorable, so customers will return to your website, share your content and value what you’re saying.
5. Think About Devices
According to The Web Master, more than 60% of online searches come from a mobile device. This number even rises above 70% in some sectors. Whilst mobile devices don’t directly affect the content you’ve created, they can hugely impact how it’s presented. Blogs that have tiny pictures (or pictures so large you only see one corner) aren’t easy or pleasant to read and many people will leave, regardless of how interesting what you have to say is.
Ensuring you have a mobile-responsive website will make people trust you and think of you as a professional business. Outdated and non-mobile-friendly websites come across as unprofessional, meaning people won’t trust the rest of what you have to say.
6. Create a Posting Plan
It’s important you’re realistic about how often you can share new, quality content. It takes time to research and create content that your audience will love and it shouldn’t be rushed. Try to be consistent with how often you create and post new content so that you can stay organised. Search engines like websites that regularly and consistently post great new content, as does your audience! A content marketing calendar can really help you to plan long-term and work out what is realistic for your company and resources.
Of course, partnering with a content creation agency will free up a lot of your time for you to concentrate on other areas of your business. They’ll be able to plan, create, share and monitor the success of your content online.
How Can Elevate Websites Help Your Business’s Content Marketing?
At Elevate Websites, we have a team specialised in content marketing that can take care of the entire process – leaving you with more time to concentrate on your business. They work closely with our SEO experts to ensure your content is not only compelling and engaging but that it also ranks highly in SERPs.
We really take our time to understand your business and your audience, so that we can add a personal touch to your company’s online presence. This helps you to stand out whilst still coming across as professional and a leader in your industry.
If you’d like to see the difference that a content marketing consultancy could make to your business, get in touch with the team at Elevate Websites. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have and take you through our unique process.
Calem Koek is a web designer and owner of leading Melbourne-based digital marketing agency Elevate Websites. He has been helping businesses in Melbourne and across Australia scale their business online through quality website design and world class SEO services.