Well, that’s great news for you, as it limits your competition! Still, you must follow strict guidelines in this increasingly competitive field.
Here’s a helpful content marketing strategy checklist to help get you started!
Before you do anything, you must identify your audience. We have a whole checklist dedicated to that.
1. Choose the Types of Content to Promote
Before developing a strategy, you need to choose what type of content you want to build. Here are the most common options.
Blog Content
A blog post is one of the easiest to start and the easiest for Google to index. All you need to do is write valuable content about the topic you know best (with a few nuances).
On top of that, blogs are also incredibly versatile, so we recommend starting with one and branching out to other content as you see fit.
Make sure each piece of content solves a user’s problem. Go after long tail keywords (longer searches) to ensure you are answering the user’s questions and delivering great content of high quality.
You can use the following tools to find your content for your content creation:
- Answer The Public
- Quora
- SEMrush
Each piece of content should have a call to action, whether downloading something for lead generation or making a sale.
Video Content
Video content often requires a higher budget if you have the in-house talent for it already.
Still, it can be a great tool to “skip the line” on search engines instead of competing with a broader variety of blog content, and it may help attract users, especially in more technical industries.
Social Media
Social media should play a big role in your content marketing. It’s a great place to distribute content you create but also a place for fresh content.
Some ideas for social media content:
- Short-form video
- Long-form video
- Quotes
- Testimonials
- Tip
Other
Plenty of other types of content can play a role in your strategy, including:
- Courses
- Infographics
- Audio content
- Press release
- Online quiz
- Service pages
The list goes on. You can always branch out and try new content styles later on, but if you have the tools to use these, it can be a great way to build backlinks and network with other websites in similar niches.
Moreover, this will help you branch out and use a marketing channel other than your website to help spread your content strategy into multiple baskets.
2. Define Your Roles and Responsibilities
Depending on the size of your team, it’s important to delegate tasks related to your content strategy to each team member ahead of time.
Each person must be clear on which objectives they are responsible for, which metrics to track, and the desired timeline for each. SEO has several key components, including:
- Competitor research
- Keyword research
- Web development
- Content marketing
- Link-building
- Reputation management
As a result, most enterprises choose to share these responsibilities. Ensure that everybody works cohesively and that roles are clear to prevent the “blame game.”
Make sure to have Google Analytics on your website to track where and how people use your content.
3. Improve Your Website
Of course, a content strategy can only go as far as the website it’s on. If you have a low-quality site, it’s nearly impossible to rank your content, no matter how good.
Google uses over 200 ranking factors directly related to the quality of your website, so make sure the site is optimized before beginning your strategy.
On top of that, you need to ensure that your new page or post is optimized. This includes the permalink, location within site, and the layout of the page itself.
Certain features, like your navigation system, are not page-specific, so these need site-wide optimization. You can check out our website checklist to learn more.
However, you want to ensure that page-specific features like header tags, link structures, and tables of contents are optimized before posting.
For example, every page should have one H1 tag, followed by H2 to H6 subheaders in the appropriate hierarchy! This will help your site with SEO (search engine optimization).
4. Design For Engagement
Read through your piece to ensure that you are promoting compelling content. If not, don’t post it. Ask yourself, have you:
- Identified your audience’s needs?
- Broken up your content into appropriate sections?
- Improved the readability of your content?
- Removed “fluff” from your content?
- Used humor when appropriate?
You may find short-term success with content that generates clicks, but it won’t last. Low engagement rates will destroy an SEO strategy and build a poor reputation among your target audience over time.
5. Offer Value
Even more important than engagement is offering value to the user. Remember, you are not creating content for search engines, so make sure users are at the forefront of your mind.
Most importantly, does your content do what it claims it will do in the title and description? Does it offer the information or value users are seeking? If not, it needs to.
Yes, you are trying to convert readers into customers, but no, that doesn’t have to interfere with value. Instead, offer the information users seek, highlight pain points, and position your product or services as a solution.
For example, if you write a post about how to change your oil, it shouldn’t be entirely about bringing it into your shop. Instead, it should give detailed step-by-step instructions, followed by a prompt to head to your shop if readers want to avoid making a mistake (or a mess).
6. Optimize Features and Files
Images, videos, links, infographics, and files must be optimized before posting.
This includes adding alt texts to your images, transcripts to videos, and titles to links.
These small optimization features go a long way toward making your site more accessible, user-friendly, and search engine-friendly.
On images, make sure you describe the image in detail. These need to be accurate and concise, like “white bowl holding fruit” or “1969 Chevy Corvair”. Use your target keyword in at least one alt attribute for the best SEO value, but only if applicable.
For links, give an appropriate title to each of them. For example, if you link to a specific product on your site, you don’t need to add a “product page” to the title. Instead, just put the name of the product.
7. Optimize Metadata
Your title tag is the H1 header you use, which needs to be clear and concise. Long titles will only appear on some devices.
Also, your meta description should stay at around 130 characters and no more than 160. Otherwise, it will be cut off on most mobile devices when searching on Google. Keep it short, concise, descriptive, and enticing.
Meta descriptions and titles are not a place for word vomit. The fewer words, the better. If this is new to you, check out our complete SEO checklist to learn more!
8. Develop a Distribution Plan
Map out where you will distribute the content (e.g., websites, magazines, email lists).
Be sure to include the following:
- Your Website
- Social Media
- Email List
- Content platforms (medium.com)
9. Revisit Your Strategy
Over time, make sure you keep up with analytics and revisit your strategy every three to six months.
Look at what posts get engagement, which posts have high bounce rates, and which posts people spent time reading (using heatmap software to measure this).
Don’t be afraid to change direction with your content marketing strategy. Use this feedback to understand what people really want from you.
From there, make sure you revisit your strategy and make adjustments to avoid breaking the bank, missing opportunities or accumulating penalties from Google.
10. Evaluate Results
Analyze data from previous campaigns to adjust current strategies for better results in the future.
Consider factors such as audience engagement and conversion rates, and use this information to make data-driven decisions about your content marketing efforts.
Additionally, regularly consult with experts in the field to gain additional insights and feedback on your strategy.
By following these tips and techniques, you can create a successful content marketing checklist that helps you achieve your goals and objectives over time
Give your content time to get engagement. A post may take 6-12 months to get traction in the search engines. That’s ok; your content marketing strategy is a long game in your marketing plan.
Use Our Content Marketing Strategy Checklist Today
Now that you have a helpful content marketing strategy checklist, run down the list before every post for the best results.
These strategies take time to come to fruition, but they pay off in the long run if you remain diligent.
Stay updated with our latest digital marketing tips, and download our complete content marketing checklist to learn more!
